Until the Sun Rises
by Bork and Beans
Summary: Ava is a Fox, on the night of the new moon she changes forms and attracts the attention of every wolf in the surrounding area, as they have a sudden urge to claim her. Even though she doesn't want to be marked someone bites her leg, and her father knows of only one way to get rid of the mark. But will it work? Derek/OC/Peter
1. High School

**AN: New story! My sister is really into Teen Wolf right now and made my other sister and I watch it with her, and now I'm obsessed, Derek, mrruuhmmm, so attractive. Anyway, basic stuff, I do not own Teen Wolf or any of it's characters, anything you don't recognize is what belongs to me. (i.e. My characters, my plot line, other stuff)**

**At the moment I'm supposed to be in the process of writing two or three other stories that are dragging slowly for me. So the way this is going to work out is whichever story has the most reviews is the one that gets the next chapter and most of my attention. My other readers are bad at reviewing for my other stories, so no chapters for them. o mo**

**But here's the first chapter, if I get a lot of stuff wrong I'm sorry, don't yell at me in a review I'm still watching the series and might not know everything that most of you veterans do. Spare me your anger! ._.**

**I Read through this briefly before losing myself to excitement of what people might say, so pardon my mistakes, originally this was going to be a one-shot but now I have more idea's for it, so here goes nothing.**

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_"Do you not tire when faced with destruction? For my mind is hopeless when faced with defeat." - Milo_

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Chapter One - High School

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It was a normal day at the high school, students at their lockers complaining about homework and classes, teachers griping about certain problem children and janitors glaring at everyone for the messes that they made. The only thing different with the school were a couple new faces that walked down the hallway with an air of importance about them, being led around by the school nurse the two people followed while smiling occasionally at a curious student.

One of the two people was a short girl who looked like she could pass for a high school student if she simply slumped and picked up a few textbooks to lug around. She had short dirty blonde hair and bright blue eyes that lay upon a young looking face that could be mistaken for someone ten years younger. It wouldn't be surprising to know that this girl was often thought to be the much younger sister of the girl next to her. She was wearing a very professional work suit with a purple blouse underneath, a black pencil skirt made her legs look even smaller as she clacked down the hallway in her sleek high heels. Unlike the woman next to her the shrimp dressed professionally despite the small stature of her body.

The other woman was taller than her colleague by a head, with reddish orange hair that went just a bit past her shoulders and startling green eyes that appeared calm and smart as she looked across the students. Wearing a nice dark green sweater that dipped low enough to see the grey undershirt beneath she was also sporting smooth black dress pants and black flats, unlike her friend she didn't need to make up for her lack of height. With pale skin, small lips, rosy cheeks from the cold, and a curious expression on her face she and her friend were attracting quite a bit of attention as they walked down the student cluttered hallway.

The two people were students at a college a few towns away, studying medicine and going to school to become doctors. One of their assignments had been to contact someone who had graduated from the school and spend a few days helping out with that person's job, or simply observing to see what it was like. The two students had been rather late with picking someone to follow around for a few days and got stuck with a school nurse who didn't even get paid as much as a sociologist.

The short woman's name was Vanessa Klutow, a thirty year old who was hoping to get hired by a big hospital who would eventually send her to private practice. There she would meet her dream guy in a doctor and they would get married to have three children who would also become doctors once they grew up. She had been paired with the much younger student who, to put it lightly, pissed her off more than she liked to admit.

Her name was Avamarie Hireston, she insisted to be called Ava, twenty one year old who was barely old enough to drink but seemed to hold knowledge beyond her years. It was one of the reasons why most of the other doctors didn't like her as much as the next person, she was smarter than they were and much, much younger. Although her flaw seemed to lie in speaking to patients properly, there was a degree of sympathy that all doctors needed in order to talk to their patients as if they cared. This was a category that Ava seemed to be lacking on, which made her teachers suggest that perhaps she could be a psychologist. This was considered for a little while before she realized that all the psychology teachers at the college were a little off in terms of acting normally.

Ava herself knew that this would affect her work if she ever had to deal with someone whom she knew was going to die or be in terrible pain. She did have some sympathy for people with certain illnesses, but when it came to those who complained about almost anything she always had the urge to spit in their face.

One of the reasons why Ava was always so good at finding out what was wrong with a patient was because she was a Fox. A supernatural being packed full of power and mystery, her father was a fox while her mother, brothers, and sisters were all wolves.

In the world there are many different types of creatures such as werewolves, angels, vampires, and even mermaids. These are the most well known creatures that humans often speak in hushed tones about and write silly fiction novels that explain how vampires sparkle in the sunlight. Ava was one of those lesser known, more rare creatures that almost no one knew about. Even some of the other supernatural creatures spoke in hushed tones about the Foxes because mermaids will probably never see them, nor would a vampire care to.

Something Ava wasn't thrilled about was the scent of wolves in the school, it smelt as if one had been walking around for a short while, perhaps just been turned as it seemed to be an immature scent. As long as she didn't run into an Alpha or anything else she should be fine, but it was always something she worried about when she left home for any amount of time. Even more so that it was the time of the new moon, she'd have to hide herself away or even go home early, though she knew the second one was not an option if she wanted to pass her class.

Much like a werewolf, who goes crazy on the night of a full moon, a Fox's weakness, or even their downfall, is the night of a new moon. On this night the Fox will change into a more animal form, also much like a werewolf, and spread its scent all over the place. Usually this is not a problem since Ava lives in a city full of different people with different stinks and smells, more than enough stenches to block out her scent. Now that she was in a more remote town that seemed to be riddled with forests left and right it would be harder to hide, but as long as there were no powerful wolves here she wouldn't have to worry.

She had a reason to be worried because a Fox can be very useful to a wolf pack, in fact in the past when a wolf pack has claimed a Fox it has always been one of the strongest and most powerful. For this reason, on the night of the new moon when shadows cover everything and a Fox sheds its smell for any werewolf to pick up on. It might as well be another full moon for the wolves that automatically search for the source of such a rich and delicious aroma. Immediately there is an urge to claim and mark the Fox as their own, so that their future pack will survive no matter what happens to it.

Ava's father always warned her about getting dragged into a pack that she hadn't chosen for herself and how the consequences could be tough to deal with. She had always assured her father that he and his pack had trained her well enough to defend herself and fight back if she ever got into that kind of situation.

Now as she walked down the hall the thought of the new moon that would happen the next night wasn't even in her mind. Only the boring dredge of Vanessa next to her and the school nurse in front of them as the lady droned on about the responsibilities that she had as not only a teacher but also a medical professional. It was only when they walked past a certain locker in the hallway that Ava turned her eyes over towards the child in front of it carefully. A teenager with short black hair and nervous eyes passed over her form quickly as the boy turned to look at his friend cautiously before turning back to his locker. This was the new werewolf that Ava smelled all over the school; the immature scent of a newly turned was sometimes hard to pick out in a pack, but easy in a hallway full of humans.

Making a note that the kid would probably be knocking on her door the next night Ava could tell that he wouldn't be too much of a threat when it came down to strength and agility. She could possibly outrun him, his punches would be slow and inexperienced, she could dodge him and run, but she probably wouldn't be able to overpower him. As strong as she was, even with enhanced abilities from her Fox form, she wasn't stronger than a wolf, she never had been and it wouldn't change.

She had to remind herself that since there was a newly turned werewolf an Alpha wouldn't be too far away and she would probably have to deal with it the next night on the new moon. There was a bit of fear that rose in her throat when the thought of getting marked entered her mind before she smothered it out. As long as she had her wit about her she could make it through the next night without anything more than sore feet, as long as she was still alive and kicking she wouldn't let a werewolf claim her.

"One of the most common reasons for students to come into the nurse's office is Lacrosse, someone is always getting hurt. For today, since school is already over and you arrived late, I've arranged for you to watch the lacrosse team practice and make sure no one dies," the nurse said with a wicked grin on her face. As if she was setting them up for something that would prove to be much harder than they had originally thought it would be.

"We'll do our best," Vanessa said with a professional smile painting her features.

"Where is the field anyway?" Ava murmured glancing around the school. In that moment the new werewolf walked past her warily, giving her an odd expression that meant he'd gotten wind of a Fox for the first time in his life.

"Mr. McCall, will you please show these ladies towards the field since you're going there anyway?" The nurse gave him a hard expression that claimed the question as more of a demand than anything else.

"Of course," he said before glancing at the two women behind him. "Just follow me, I guess," he added the last part with a bland voice. Ava smiled at him gingerly, she remembered when teachers would ask her to do things she obviously had no time for, and of course she always said yes, even if she hated them.

"I'm guessing you're on the lacrosse team then?" Ava asked of the boy in front of her. He glanced back at her quickly, his eyes giving off a confused expression as he took in her scent again.

"Yeah, first line," he said getting a hint of pride in his voice.

"My older brother played lacrosse when he was in high school; he was always one of the best players on the field," Vanessa said proudly as she remembered watching her brother run across the field.

"Really? That's cool," the boy said in a bored voice. Vanessa swelled next to Ava as she gave the younger girl a look of victory, almost sneering at Ava for how good she was at talking to people compared to her. She didn't pick up on how the boy clearly did not want to talk to either of them despite there being a connection between him and the other woman's older brother; he just wanted to get rid of them. Ava couldn't help but smile at him, he was giving a prideful doctor false hope by responding.

The boy bid them farewell as soon as they got to the locker rooms, he muttered that the field was right outside before he disappeared through the doors and out of sight.

"High school was always so exciting," Vanessa said next to her with a sigh as they walked outside.

"No it wasn't," Ava murmured blandly from her left. The older woman gave her a bitter expression that made Ava look away from her slowly; she knew that everyone in the class didn't like her too much because she didn't belong there. She was too young to understand things what most teachers told her when she tried to get into a class. "You know the nurse is just making us do her dirty work right?" She mumbled making way towards the bleachers that already had some kids sitting in them.

"I didn't ask to be put here, if I had made the decision myself without having you holding me back I would be at a hospital or Urology office or something better than this. But no, I'm stuck with you, so just be a good little girl and keep your mouth shut," she sneered while keeping a smile on her face for the students to see. Ava smiled as her partner ranted and babbled about how she had gotten stuck with Ava again, she'd only complained about it at least ten times.

"You're right," Ava said in a fake sad voice that made Vanessa turn towards her abruptly. "I'm sorry you're already such an old lady that it took you forever to turn in the papers, it must had been hard walking without your cane," she said in an empathetic voice that made Vanessa gape at her angrily.

The older woman made some sputtering noises while Ava walked past her quickly, leaving the woman to glare after her retreating form as she walked towards the benches quickly. She sat down calmly before watching her partner walk over in a fuming mood that Ava knew she would be hearing about for the rest of the night. But all she could do was smirk as the woman grumbled low in her throat and set her eyes on the kids coming out onto the field at a slow run.

The practice was boring until the boy that had showed them out to the field, the new werewolf, plowed through one of his teammates and left them splayed out on the field. Immediately Ava had noticed the shift in his attitude as he shoved his friend back to try and crush the other player again, this wasn't the same human that was cowering in the hallway anymore. Vanessa and Ava jumped to their feet immediately and climbed down the bleacher stairs; when they got to the bottom the older woman put her arm in front of Ava to hold her back.

"You won't be any help," she spat out before running down the field towards the injured boy.

Looking after Vanessa as she rushed over to help with a fake smile on her face Ava growled darkly and felt her fangs poke her lips before she let the wave of anger pass. Catching a new scent and hearing someone move off in the distance behind her Ava turned to catch sight of a figure standing near the woods. He must have caught her scent as well because for a moment they stared at each other while he stared at her oddly, perhaps he'd never smelled a Fox before. Ava had always been curious as to what her scent was like to a wolf, her mother always told them of how she'd caught her father and claimed him, so she'd asked her what it smelled like. She responded quickly, giving her husband a hungry look before turning back to her daughter.

'_He smelled good enough to eat.'_

Still Ava had a hard time believing that she and her father smelled sweet and vulnerable, but then her brothers and sisters were always saying that they liked her perfume even when she wasn't wearing any. Which was always a little weird when they walked past her and took a deep breath, or when her older brother hugged her and sniffed her hair as if she was an air freshener.

Even as she stared at the wolf in the distance Ava could tell that he was trying to figure out what kind of smell he was getting from her, most wolves she'd just met gave her a strange look before wanting to get closer to her. Then when they figured out what she was they came looking for her, only to find that she was protected by her mother's pack, and they certainly wouldn't be able to beat a whole pack. Especially since they had a Fox already established, of course they tried to bargain for her, if there's two Fox's in a pack the power counters off each other and is otherwise null. But her siblings would always defend her and promise that as soon as they had a pack of their own, she would be in it.

If the wolf in front of her found out what she was he would be the same way, and she would reject him all the same.

"Avamarie!" Vanessa's voice broke her from her thoughts as she looked away from the wolf and walked back onto the field with a growl she hated it when people used her whole name.

Sensing that Scott had lost control again Derek had gone to the lacrosse field to make sure that no one had seen the boy change completely, standing close enough to the woods that he could simply disappear again he watched the field. There was a new scent that surprised him when he got there, something sweet and alluring that made him want to walk closer and get a better smell of it.

On the field one of Scott's teammates lay on the grass doing his best to take short breaths through the pain of whatever Scott had done to him, perhaps a broken bone or sprained shoulder. His eyes followed Scott and his friend as they rushed off to disappear into the school and out of sight; as long as no one would see him in the school it would be alright.

Moving to leave the school Derek's attention was once again brought towards the sweet scent that he was trying to ignore. His gaze latched onto a girl as she walked out form the bleachers to look at the people crowding around the field, he was hit with the full force of her scent now. It pulled at him, urging him to rush forward and confront such an aroma, the wolf in him whined to be released and chase after the girl. Her long reddish hair swayed lightly in the breeze as her scent lifted through the air once more.

For a moment he wondered how Scott got through his day if there was someone like that in the school, surely the newly turned would lose all resolve and chase after such a smell without remorse. But he had to remind himself that because Scott was new he probably didn't recognize scents for all their worth just yet.

Staring at the woman in front of him he could see her staring right back at him, where most people would turn away from him quickly as if he was a stalker watching their prey or something, she only returned his stare. Perhaps she was just as curious as he was, why was a man more than forty feet away from her staring in her direction so intently?

It confused him, why didn't she smell like all the other humans on the field, of course Scott had a different smell because he was a werewolf now. Stiles smelled like a human, everything else in front of him smelled like it always did, he could even hear their heartbeats if he focused on them. Why? Why did she smell so different from them?

"Avamarie!" Someone called the woman's name, making her turn away from him and growl slightly. Whoever had called her name was someone she didn't particularly like, at least that much was obvious, he could only imagine there being a glare in her eyes as well. Now he at least knew her name, he watched her until her form disappeared into the other people although her smell was still just as strong.

He'd have to ask Scott about her.

That night the nurse at the school sent them to one of her colleagues who worked as a doctor to the more severe cases in the hospital. Patients that were in coma's or stuck in a sickness that they would never recover from, it was a bit of a test for the two women was what the woman told them. Having to take care of people that never respond or have fits that are sometimes uncontrollable, she wanted to see if they were cut out for that kind of work. Vanessa tried to explain that, as she was going to be transferred to private practice, it would never be an issue, but the nurse shrugged her off saying it was a good learning experience.

Vanessa figured it was a good topic to complain about the whole drive over to the hospital that the doctor was waiting to talk to them at. Ava had to keep reminding her to keep both of her hands on the wheel as the woman had a habit of waving them around when she was angry.

"It took forever to drive here today; all I want to do is go back to our crappy hotel and get a good night's sleep before we have to go back to that god awful school tomorrow. Instead we have to go to some dumb hospital full of coma patients, they're in a coma!" she shouted angrily as she pulled into the parking lot. "All you have to do is make sure that they still aren't moving and that they aren't dead," she continued to babble as Ava stared at the window bored.

"As a future doctor I think you should learn to control your temper," she muttered catching the woman's attention. "What happens when you lose your cool in front of a patient?" She questioned giving Vanessa a quizzical glance.

"I won't," she assured her with a chuckle. Ava gave her a dead expression that said 'yeah right' making the woman frown at her bitterly. Pulling the car into park she sneered at Ava for a moment before finally finding the right words for a comeback. "At least I'm emotional enough to express sympathy for a patient, all you do is stare at them," she said with a triumphant smirk on her face. It was easy to pick on the younger girl because she was still young and hadn't developed the professional atmosphere yet.

"It's better than yelling at them," Ava dismissed her with sigh before getting out of the car.

Glaring at her back as she walked away Vanessa kept her mouth shut as best she could, if she started yelling at the girl now it would just prove her point even more. Instead she straightened her suit and skirt before letting her heels click on the ground as she stride forward quickly to get past Ava and push the door open.

"You must be the young ladies nurse Johnson was telling me about," a man said with a handsome smile on his face. Ava could hear Vanessa's heart begin to beat faster as she stared at the doctor's smile while he waited for them to respond. This was just what the woman wanted, a handsome doctor to call her husband, Ava gave the woman a small nudge and a knowing grin that made her shove her with her elbow crudely.

"Yes, I'm Vanessa Klutow and this is my colleague Avamaire Hireston," she spoke with a shaky voice at first before it turned stern and professional. The man gave her a smile before reaching out to shake Vanessa's hand and then releasing it to turn towards Ava.

"Call me Ava," she said gently while giving his hand a firm shake.

"I'm Dr. Oliver Roberts, Nurse Johnson asked if I would show you some of my patients," he explained motioning for the two women to follow him through some doors and down the hallway. "She wants to scare you," he said softly as if it was a secret.

"Are your patients scary?" Ava asked in a curious voice. For some reason she'd always been fascinated when it came to strange sicknesses and diseases, there was always an urge to figure out what was wrong.

"That's up to you to decide," he said with a chuckle. Vanessa let a laugh escape her lips as well before thinking better of laughing like a love struck school girl and stopping herself short.

Oliver showed them a few patients, telling them what had happened to get them into such a state and if they would ever heal or wake up from their ailment. Most of the time the answer was no, some of the people had been comatose for years, decades even. Only kept alive by some hope from their family members that they would wake some day and return to them, and yet Ava knew that most of them would never wake. She could smell their bodies trying to die, but denied its natural course by machines keeping them alive, if only it wasn't a crime to kill them she put their souls out of their misery.

"Ava, are you okay?" Oliver asked her when she'd been staring at one of his patients for at least five minutes. His whole body was covered in scars; his face had healed as best as it could despite the deep gashes that had once been there. A deformed mess of a human being lay in front of her, unable to wake.

"Yeah," she murmured softly before turning away from the patient with an emotionless expression on her face. It was then that Vanessa remembered just how young Ava was and gave the girl an understanding expression; she'd always thought of the girl as competition she needed to crush. But by most adults standards she was still just a kid. Perhaps this type of exposure was too much for her.

Of course Vanessa was all wrong, but it's the thought that counts sometimes right?

"She's still pretty young, maybe this is too much for her," Vanessa said to Oliver in a whisper as Ava walked out of the room. "You know it takes a while to get the hang of being a doctor and being around things like this all the time," she sighed softly.

"I'm surprised," Oliver muttered making Vanessa nod her head in agreement. "It's the same way I reacted when I first took this job," he said letting a smile break onto his face. He gave Vanessa a confused expression when he saw her gaping at him before he left her in the room to new thoughts.

This doctor was weird.

When he took them to the last patient for the night Ava stopped herself short in the hallway when she caught the scent of something else in the hospital, something inhuman. Oliver and Vanessa didn't question her as she walked away from the room they went into; they probably still thought she needed some time to recover.

It smelled like there was a wolf in the hospital, an older one than the first two she had smelled today; she could hear his steady heartbeat from his room. The door was open and Ava wondered if soon there would be someone wandering out soon to see where the smell was coming from, but instead she found herself moving towards it slowly. The sound of its heartbeat didn't change at all as she approached the room; perhaps he was asleep at the moment.

Getting closer to the room Ava began to get a little anxious with herself, should she really be going towards the scent of a werewolf when there was a possibility of it coming for her later? No, probably not. But she was to intrigued to stop now, she wanted to see who it was that she would be running from later, she could at least deduce what their weaknesses were. Listening for another heartbeat Ava made sure that there was no one else in the room before she peeked inside slowly.

There was a man in a wheelchair staring out one of the windows with a dull expression on his face, he made no move to look at her nor did the steady beat of his insides change to her scent. He was one of the patients.

Immediately Ava felt her stomach churn when she thought about how many werewolves she'd ever seen in the hospital, or in such a position as this man. It was a very short list, in fact now that he had been added to it there were three, and always it was from some horrifying incident that left them useless. It was even worse for Ava when she saw a werewolf in the hospital; it meant that they weren't healing, something awful had happened and how they were stuck.

Taking careful steps toward the man she scrunched her eyes at his blank eyes while he looked out the window as if he was already dead. Her nose twitched uncomfortably as she saw the other half of his face that was covered in a nasty burn scar, Ava had an urge to find out what happened to him but that was only for those in her pack. Leaning down to be eye level with him she reached out to touch his forehead before thinking better of it and pulling her hand away.

"If you were in my pack, I would've taken care of you," she whispered softly. It was then that she heard someone walking down the hall towards his room and she bolted out of it quickly, disappearing before the nurse even suspected someone had been there.

Oliver bid them goodnight and turned around to go back to work, Vanessa's smile a little too big when he left and she sighed dreamily, which almost made Ava smile at how immature she was being about a boy. But she didn't say anything, not when the coma werewolf was still fresh on her mind. Whoever he was, whatever pack he had once belonged to they were probably dead, an omega without a choice.

Understanding that the younger girl might need space Vanessa left out her bickering for the next day and let the ride to their hotel stay silent.

"I was wrong," the woman finally spoke when they got to their room for the night. Ava looked at her blankly; she wasn't in the mood to argue right now. "You're not emotionless, I'm sorry," she said in a gentle voice. Ava wondered faintly if the words were bitter as they came out of her mouth, she'd never given Ava a chance to prove herself and now she was just jumping to conclusions.

"Don't misunderstand," she whispered blandly. It made Vanessa stare at her a little baffled by her response, what was there for her to get wrong about what had happened that night? But she didn't say anything else besides mumbling a thank you and disappearing into the bathroom, the older woman still gave her a soft expression. Summing everything up as a reaction to the patients, she was just too young for this kind of work.

The next day they were back at the school, acting as substitute nurses while Ms. Johnson sat back in her chair and 'worked' on the computer that she claimed was full of parent concerns she needed to respond to. Ava was sure the school nurse felt like today would be a good day to do nothing now that she had two medical students to deal with all the sick teenagers that came into the office to skip class.

They'd gotten a couple girls who blushed when they asked for tampons and pads, one very sick looking junior that looked ready to hurl, a handful of students looking to catch some sleep, and a couple kids who got decimated playing dodge ball in P.E. That was only in the first half of the day.

After Vanessa muttered something about bathroom break and Nurse Johnson just said coffee a few times before disappearing Ava was left in the office by herself. As soon as she had smelled the kid from the day before, the new werewolf, her mind was filled with thoughts of which pack he belonged to. As a Fox she could pick out werewolves from pretty far away when she was looking for them, but as far as she knew there were only three in the town, and one of them was in a coma.

Of course when she was alone was when said person came walking down the hall towards the nurses office, she could hear his heart beating nervously as he neared his destination. Taking a deep breath he pushed himself into the room and twisted his face to make it look like he was sick.

"Stomach ache?" She questioned softly.

"Where's Ms. Johnson?" He asked trying to avoid the question.

"I'm helping her today, my names Ava," she said giving him a kind smile that he almost returned. "Can you tell me your name?" She pushed further while holding up a sign in sheet to dampen any confusion he might've had.

"Scott McCall," he said with a soft groan in his voice. Ava had to give him some credit for sticking with his supposed ailment even though she knew there was nothing wrong with him.

"Let me take your temperature," she said before grabbing the head thermometer they used. When she got close to him he took a long sniff of her, taking in her smell while she let the thermometer roll across his forehead. Ava wanted to smirk at the wolf; it was always a little humorous when wolves met a Fox for the first time. "No fever," she muttered before putting her tool back. "Do you want to go home that badly?" She asked with a soft laugh.

She already knew why he was here, he was curious. Why did this person in front of him smell so much different from anyone else in the school? Why didn't she smell human?

For a small moment Ava saw his eyes shift as he lost control of himself for a second before he took a deep breath and relaxed himself as best he could. Ava's heart had left into her throat slightly as worst case scenarios played through her mind, all of them included shifting and running.

"I think I can make it, I'll just go back to class," he stumbled over his words before rushing out of the nurse's office. Vanessa walked back in next giving her a questioning look.

"What?" Ava asked giving her the same expression.

"What did you do to that kid? He was all shaken up," she muttered quizzically as Ava held back a grin.

"I just took his temperature," she defended standing up swiftly. The small woman gave her an uncomfortable expression before glancing at the door to see if anyone else might be listening in.

"Which way?"

.

_"A throbbing mess of who I used to be." - Milo _

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**AN: Remember what I said about reviews? Maybe?**

**What did you think? I just really wanted to use a Fox as another shifter that could blend in with the story while allowing for some Derek romance, plus possible Peter love, maybe a little hint of it.**

**Do you want me to continue? Give me a review. If you didn't like it...oh well, hope you find a story that suits your brain taste.**

**Thanks for reading.**


	2. Fire

**AN: The five of you that reviewed, good job! You've earned yourself another chapter! As for my other stories, i got a follow I think, going to have to try harder than that to make me write you another part of the story. Thanks for everyone that reviewed, at the moment I'm running on new story adrenaline, which usually causes me to write a few chapter without much ushering. Though I will still wait for reviews in order to put it on ff.**

**I read through this and made a few changes before my teacher caught me not working, so if there are some mistakes I apologize. Disclaimer, disclaimer, I do not own anything but Ava, and other peeps.**

**Don't forget to review if you want to know what happens next, and enjoy the chapter.**

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_"As the days pass my breath is stolen, my eyes ruthlessly robbed of their sight." -Milo_

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**Chapter Two - Fire**

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The day went by quickly even with Ava getting more and more nervous about the night that was to come, she could handle a couple of beta's for a night, but if there was going to be an Alpha coming for her. That was a different story entirely, she'd have to run faster than usual and perhaps even use some of her pack strength, which would alert everyone that she was in trouble, and she could handle herself.

Her siblings always assumed that since she was a Fox that she was weaker than them, and even if she was weaker than they were she was definitely faster. When it came down to speed she wouldn't lose right? Then again she'd never fought an Alpha before, not alone anyway.

When they got back to the hotel room that evening Ava gave Vanessa a soft look before turning to walk out the door.

"Where are you going?" She asked in a stern voice.

"To look at some old book stores, probably be out all night, do you want to come with?" Ava asked knowing that she would more than likely say no.

"Not at all," she muttered before switching on the television. "Don't wake me up when you get back," she added onto the end before Ava closed the door behind her and headed for the woods.

On the night of the new moon at home her pack would simply lock her underground, where she couldn't get out, and no one else could get in, it was a way of keeping her safe that her father had come up with. He never liked the idea of locking his daughter in a cave but it was better than some wolf chasing her down to claim. Ava didn't mind, it wasn't that she lost her mind or control of her body on such a night, it was just all the attention she attracted because she was an unclaimed Fox. Once a Fox is claimed its scent can only be smelled by those in its pack. The whole ordeal of the new moon was just a way of attracting wolves that still needed a Fox; it was a sort of contest that insured only the strongest could claim them. The bad thing about it was that most Fox's didn't want to be claimed like that, they wanted to pick a pack for themselves.

Since she was in a different town where people didn't know her and she didn't know anyone else it was better to keep away from humans just in case a werewolf decided it was okay to chase her into the street. This way once she changed she could run through the trees where no one would see her and lead the wolves away from anyone that might be curious enough to follow the howls.

Doing her best to hold off her shifting until she got into the forest Ava sighed when finally the crunch of leaves could be heard beneath her feet. She sighed and let her claws lengthen slightly while her ears shrunk and disappeared until they were replaced with fox ears atop her head, they were the same color as her hair. Her teeth grew sharper as her eyes adjusted to the dark of night while her tail began to grow slowly until it was orangey red, like her hair, and went down to the back of her knees.

The change brought her to her knees as she kicked her shoes off frantically to let her feet change ever so slightly. The howl that bubbled up from her throat made Ava want to gag, no matter how many times she'd tried to stop it, to keep herself from letting such a noise rip from her throat, it always found a way to escape. Finally it broke free of her prison of a mouth and she let her lungs sing towards the dead sky of the new moon above her, catching the attention of three werewolves who'd already caught on to her scent.

Scott had been talking to Stiles about the nurse when he caught wind of the smell again, she was nowhere near him and yet it called him towards it. The wolf inside him started to break out as he sat there with a grim expression on his face; Stiles' questioning voice was muffled by the shear need to shift forms. But what was he doing, there was Alison, they hadn't known each other long but he already really liked her. So what was the urge?

Then came the howl, it was clear and sharp to his ears as he turned towards the window in his room, all previous thoughts lost in his mind as he stood up quickly and let his body change quickly.

"Ah, dude," Stiles muttered watching with puzzlement as his friend heard an imaginary sound. "What are you going?" He asked giving him an odd look.

When he'd heard the howl was when Scott finally knew what the smell had been the whole time, Derek had mentioned something about different shape shifters having different smells and somehow he knew which one this was.

"Fox," he growled before jumping out the window and running off towards the woods.

"Okay," Stiles muttered watching his friend until he lost sight of his body. He stayed sitting down for a few minutes trying to figure out what he should do before getting to his feet and running down the stairs.

For Derek it had been a little different although very similar, he'd recognized the smell right away as being the girl form the day before, Avamarie. Scott had told him that she was a substitute nurse that was helping out for some reason at his school, apparently she would be going back home in the next couple of days. This sounded normal and Derek shrugged off the whole thing as being a little weird but something that would leave the town anyway so he didn't have to get involved. Mostly because he didn't want to, there was already enough to deal with at the moment.

The sound of a howl reached his ears quickly and his wolf screamed at him to shift and chase, he could already feel his teeth getting sharper and he hadn't even thought about it. Suddenly he remembered what kind of creatures had this sort of affect on werewolves, the scent and the urges, the desire for power. Avamarie was a Fox, and it was a new moon. There was a different sort of lust that shivered through his form as he imagined biting down on her skin and claiming her as his own. It didn't matter that he wasn't an Alpha, any wolf could mark a Fox. It was something that showed potential to being an Alpha of their own.

His eyes changed color slightly before he shifted entirely and took awkward steps out the door until finally his wolf took him over completely and he let out a howl of his own. Derek started running faster than he ever had before towards the direction of the howl his fangs itching to close his claws around the flesh that belonged to the sweet scent that had been stuck in his nose all day.

The trees around him passed by quickly as all he could seem to think about was the fox girl and how powerful he could become if he claimed her as his own. Any future pack of his would be set for life as long as he had her; it was all he needed to urge his legs to go faster towards the source of the sweet scent. Such was the influence of a Fox on a new moon, even the oldest of friends gets chased by the other as the drive for more power lures the wolves in.

As soon as she heard the other howl Ava started to run away from it, especially because it was closer than she thought it would be and that scared her. It meant that it wouldn't be long before a wolf found her mainly with her scent being kind of like a tracking device, there was almost no where she could run that they wouldn't find her. She hadn't thought of it that way before, were all Fox's this terrified when it came time for the new moon?

She was on all fours running as quickly as she could away from the howl, the cold air whipped past her cheeks like a ferocious windstorm, her surroundings turning into a blur as she tried to ignore any sign of wolves getting closer. It was then that another werewolf bounded through the trees on her left. This one was the kid from earlier today, Scott, the new wolf who was unexpectedly keeping up with her despite the quick pace of her run; it scared her even more now. If this new werewolf was able to keep near her, how easy would it be for the other to catch up as well?

Getting her answer almost immediately Ava recognized this scent of this one being the man she had seen the day before standing in front of the forest. He growled at her darkly before bounding in front of her and blocking her path making Ava growl back and turn around to face Scott. His eyes were glowing yellow as he stared at her hungrily.

In a quick movement she moved away from both of them only to have the other wolf grab her arm quickly, she turned back fiercely to glare at his blue eyes before kicking him in the stomach and wrenching away from his grasp. Her ears twitched as Scott threw himself at her before the other wolf growled and launched himself at Scott as well, beating down on him brutally as Scott did his best to get anywhere near Ava.

Seeing it as a chance to get away she bolted off into the forest again, not even turning around to see if they had followed her immediately because she could already hear the wolf growl at her absence. Faintly she heard Scott whimper before he turned the other way and ran off and away from where the other two were running. Obviously if he was strong enough he would've been able to catch the Fox without putting up a fight but it was apparent that he was in no position to start a pack just yet.

As quick as before he was in front of her, breathing heavily while they circled around each other waiting for the other to attack first. The wolf moved first, jumping at her powerfully Ava did her best to jump away until she hit a tree and the wolf almost grinned at his good fortune, she shivered at the sight. Swallowing her fear Ava cursed herself for being weak, jumping at the first signs of danger, it was time for her to show this wolf that she wouldn't be taken down lightly.

Taking a powerful fighting stance he looked at her curiously before showing her his claws slowly, again she waited for him to strike first, he did so quickly. Swiping at her with his claws Ava was reminded of when she trained with her brothers and sisters, the fear wasn't as real then, but at least now she knew that she could dodge him. Ducking left, shifting right, and then completely moving out of the way she saw the wolf frown bitterly at her before he howled at her shortly. She gave him her own sort of bark, one that she'd always thought sounded more like a raptor of some sort, if only she could pass as that scary.

He came at her again, this time there was no room for other thoughts as all Ava could think about was dodging the next punch, and avoiding his legs when he tried to kick her in the stomach. When she moved away from the kick he finally got a hold of her shoulder, his claws digging into the flesh as he threw her onto the ground powerfully. Knocking the air out of her lungs momentarily he got near her neck and was about ready to bite when she thrashed against him with an angry snarl. He raised his claws as if to silence her when she kicked upwards with both of her legs and knocked him off balance.

The next time he came at her there were no openings in his swings she could only dodge and hope that he would tire even though she knew that he wouldn't. Eventually she faltered and he punched her in the stomach with a dull thud that had her gasping before he kicked out her legs and broke her left ankle with a scary snap. Ava let an agonized Fox howl escape her lips as the wolf once again forced her into the ground, her siblings had never prepared her for broken bones before. Foxes didn't heal the same way wolves did, still faster than a human, but not as quickly as a wolf; it would take a few minutes for the bone to realign.

He walked to her form slowly, a wolfish grin on his face he knew that he had her now.

Ava barked at him again, angry that she would have to resort to her packs power, tapping into the links between all of them she felt their confusion for a moment before they remembered that she wasn't at home. The last thing she felt of their emotions before power started to flood through her veins was panic and worry; she had to be in trouble if she was using their strength.

Lifting herself up slowly the wolf watched her curiously as her ankle snapped back into place, there was a new smell about her that made him crave her all the more. Her eyes glowed a reddish orange color that made him stiffen slightly, those were the eyes Alpha's bore though slightly different.

They stared at each other for a second before something rushed at them and grabbed the other wolf before throwing him off into the forest forcefully, she heard him snap against a tree painfully. He'd hit his head or something because he didn't come back after that, Ava expected the new wolf to show itself immediately but it was silent for a moment. Then there was a new growl washing around her ears as she tried to catch the new wolf with her eyes, it was the same smell from the hospital, but she'd never heard of a Fox waking a man in a coma.

Slowly the new wolf walked out of the shadows to look at her, his eyes glowing red as he advanced on her, an Alpha, probably the one that had turned Scott. He was more animal than human, as opposed to how the other two had looked it was like he stepped out of a nightmare. She growled at him darkly only to have him return her vocally with a demanding howl that made her shiver even with the combined power she now had. Her tail puffed slightly in fright as she tried to figure out what the best course of action would be.

With the fear now coursing through her veins Ava bolted as quickly as she could, running faster than she had before and yet still not fast enough as a claw closed around her leg and pulled backwards. His nails dug into her skin as if she was made of paper and she snarled painfully at him before making a swipe at his eyes. He merely slammed her form against the closest tree he could find making Ava blink away black dots in her vision, the Alpha still had a grip on her leg and slammed her into the ground as well when he finally let go. Her breathing was short and quick as her body did it's best to heal despite having nearly been killed, if she was human she'd have already died.

Instead she coughed up some blood and glared at the Alpha halfheartedly, his monstrous body moved quickly and picked her up by the throat, holding her in the air by her neck he slowly brought her closer to his fangs. Ava grabbed at him arm weakly, letting her own power mix with that of her pack before she concentrated it into her hands and tried to burn the wolf's arm. The Alpha yelped at the heat and dropped her to the ground, watching her hands as they glowed the same color as her eyes. For a moment the Alpha seemed hesitant as to whether or not he should continue to strike at her or not, it lasted for only a few seconds before the vigor returned.

He snapped at her angrily as she recovered from getting thrown around briefly. This was the power that her family line of Foxes had; it was one of the reasons why her mother's pack was so powerful. Besides having the ability to connect every Wolf's power in the pack together a Fox has another power. Depending on the line of Foxes the power could be different, ice, earth, wind, strength, healing, protection, and Ava's power, fire.

Her father had been teaching her to control it ever since she had set a forest on fire when she was three years old, he'd been hoping that her level of fire wouldn't be as high as his was so she could control it easier. It wasn't, in fact her ability to control fire was more powerful than his, which sometimes made it hard to teach her. The first thing she had to understand was that when she used her flame she had to be careful about it because she drew her strength from her own life source. If she used too much of it at a time, she could die. In fact any time a wolf borrowed the Foxes power it used pieces of its life source, so depending on whether or not the Fox picked the pack or was claimed, could spell out its death.

So as she pulled herself to her feet and let her hands glow fiercely Ava made sure that she was using the smallest amount of her power as possible, already she could feel it draining her. The Alpha in front of her bared its teeth before lunged forward quickly, but she could see his movements now and blocked his first punch before shrugging the next one aside and punching him in the chest with her burning fist. He shrunk away from her quickly and lunged for her head, catching her off guard she moved back a little late and caught the tips of his claws on her skin, tearing her forehead open slightly.

Blinking away the drops of blood that began to collect into her eyebrows Ava glared darkly at the wolf as he brought his bloodied claws up to his mouth to lick mockingly. She snarled at him before making a move to burn his face but he saw it coming and dodged her quickly while punching her in the stomach as a way of payback. Ava ignored it and raked her heated claws down his arm as she fell onto the leafy ground, he snarled at her and followed her to the ground where they tussled for a little while until getting stuck in a hold together. The Alpha's face was so close to Ava's that all he had to do was bend his head down to her neck slowly before he licked her neck in anticipation making her squirm at the feeling of a tongue on her skin. Wrenching her hand free she pressed it against his face and let the skin burn until the stench of melted flesh and hair filled the air.

In the process of pushing away from the wolf and the Alpha snarling from the pain Ava was nearly to her feet when teeth closed around her ankle making her scream out in pain. Finally losing her temper she focused energy into her hand and dug her claws into the back of the wolf's neck until she was sure the heat would burn for a while. In the next few moments there was a terrible howl of pain that came from her burning enemy and then the Alpha was gone, sprinting off through the trees and out of sight.

Staring down at her ruined ankle Ava let her power subside as she now felt the weight of her issues, how would she explain this to her nosy partner Vanessa? Could she even make it back to that crappy hotel?

When Derek started to wake it was barely an hour after he'd been thrown across the forest, at first his thoughts were jumbled until he remembered that he'd gone after a Fox and been deterred by another wolf. Did that mean the girl had been claimed by someone else? And if so, why did the forest smell like a sweet bloody mess?

It was still very much night time but his eyes adjusted to the darkness quickly while he followed the scent at a sprint, it wasn't long before he found the girl walking in front of him slowly. The smell of blood was strong on her as she limped visibly her fox ears atop her head dropped low showing pain and sadness. He got closer to her still, the urge to claim had not yet left his mind and so he walked behind her quickly.

Her ears twitched and shot upright before she turned to look at him slightly shocked before a frown washed over her features. Glaring at him weakly she took a shaky step forward before her expression washed away from her face and she crumpled into the ground and passed out. Derek ran over to her form swiftly taking in the sight of her bloody ankle and bleeding forehead all thoughts of marking left his mind in a hurry.

Why wasn't she healing?

Suddenly there was a threatening growl that sifted through the trees before three sets of glowing blue eyes began to walk towards him from out of the darkness. Derek returned the vocalization; reaching down the grab Avamarie beneath him a wolfish figure jumped into sight and lunged towards him forcefully. Jumping away from her the other wolf landed over her form and snarled darkly in his direction. Two others emerged to back up the other wolf and surround the girls form protectively while Derek watched with malice in his eyes.

One of them stooped down to pick her up, taking her form into his arms gently he lifted her carefully into his arms before giving Derek one last look before running back the way they had come. The other two watched Derek carefully for a minute before following behind the one that was holding Avamarie. He was almost certain that they were part of her pack and were simply protecting her from any further harm that might come to her. Growling darkly he turned away from where she had been, surely if he had claimed the Fox he would've been powerful enough to beat the Alpha easily.

She was aware of her dreaming as soon as it started because she was afraid. There was fire all around her form, eating away at the building around her as other people in the room screamed and cried to be released. It had to be a dream because when it came to fire Ava felt no fear of it, when she touched flame it was warm against her skin but did not burn her flesh.

These were not her feelings. This was not her life.

Yet it was all she could think about, the flames burning into her vision as a scream low quelled in her throat like cat ready to spring on a mouse. Even in the dream she could not run, her body wouldn't move at her commands as she simply sat in front of the fire as it ate the walls of the building around her. Suddenly there was a pain that ripped at the side of her face and tore across her skin, even though Ava was sure it was a dream the pain was real and it stung. Subsiding only slightly as she held her face in her hands and gazed across the room to look at the other people around her, their faint cries growing muffled as the dream progressed. She was shaking horribly as the fire dimmed and died away to be taken over by complete darkness.

A darkness that swallowed her voice and refused to let her breathe, stealing from her the very things that she took for granted everyday, as well as the things that she hated. It was a heavy darkness, a deep black that choked her even in the dream, and yet she couldn't escape it. The fear was immense, just as the emptiness of the black around her was. Whoever's dream this was it was frightening, a nightmare without meaning to be.

Ava woke slowly, her body was sore from the night before as she opened her eyes to see she was back in her room at home. Upon hearing her wake one of her brothers rushed into the room and glared down at her lightly, though she could see the relief in his eyes as she had finally woken up. It was her oldest brother Arthur, one of the most powerful wolves in the pack he made a point in treating her like a baby. Hissing softly at the pain that came from her ankle Ava pulled off the blankets to reveal a very nasty looking bloody bandage that made her brother cringe bitterly.

"You scared us," her brother finally spoke.

"Art-," he cut her off when she tried to speak.

"Feeling the power transfer and knowing that you were in trouble. Finding you crumpled on the ground and smelling like blood, we were so worried that you wouldn't wake up," his voice cracked a little as he spoke.

When they first felt her tap into the link there was fear and confusion that circled amongst them, it had been Sam's idea to follow a day behind her just to be safe. She'd never been completely alone on a new moon and it scared them to think what might happen to her if she was left alone with wolves that would show no mercy. There was an immediate response that followed her borrowing of power, they shifted forms quickly and followed the scent that they had smelled since she was born. Hearing her howls of pain and warning even ten's of miles away was agonizing, but even worse was the silence that followed.

Then the smell of blood, her blood, made them run even faster to find her. There was an overwhelming rage that rose within their throats when they saw another werewolf looming over her body, they could smell the desire on his body. On the way home, her heartbeat had been so weak and her body so cold a frail they were afraid that her wound was too great for anyone to heal.

"You should've stayed home," he finally let a growl rip past his lips. At first Ava was a little shocked by his outburst until a look of anger flashed through her eyes and she narrowed them at Arthur.

"I thought I could handle it, it's not like I died," she snapped back at him. His face contorted dangerously and he turned so sharply towards her that Ava knew she'd said the wrong thing and made him angry.

"Well you can't, that's why we always keep you locked up, you're not safe outside, not when those beasts can hurt you like this," he motioned towards her ankle expressively. "Now you've gone and messed everything up, I shouldn't have let you leave," he spat out.

"What do you mean?" She asked shakily.

"He bit you," he started to pull off the bandage quickly. Ava ignored the small pain that accompanied the fast removal of tape on skin. "That bastard Alpha, he didn't complete the mark, but now all he has to do is complete the claim and that's it," he said lowly making Ava shiver at his voice.

Suddenly there was a loud noise of someone falling over in the hallway and Ava knew right away that it was her father, Arthur sighed knowing who it was as well. He rushed into the room panting shortly before he saw Ava and smiled like a child before looking at Arthur with a question in his eyes. His son shook his head in the direction of the bite mark and Ava found his eyes focused on her form as she took in the new information about eh bite mark.

"Avamarie," he spoke her name in a breathless whisper. Ava frowned at him; he always called her by her whole name despite how many times she told him that it was Ava now. "Arty told you about eh half mark," he muttered while his son sighed softly. He hated that nickname.

"Can I get rid of it?" Ava asked desperately. "I don't want to leave," her voice was soft and broken. Arthur cringed at how sad she sounded the amount of pain in her voice when she spoke of leaving the family. Her father gave her the kindest look she had ever seen on him, an expression that read true sympathy and consolation. Reaching forward to touch her cheek gently he cupped her face in his hands as if she was still a child and he was trying to cheer her up after getting left behind by her siblings.

"Of course you can," he whispered to her."I'll tell you everything you need to know, and before you leave your brothers will train you harder than they ever have. We don't want to lose you either," he said kissing her forehead gently. There was a small trace of the cut she had gotten from one of the wolves the night before, but after her father let a bit of his warmth onto her skin it healed quickly.

"As soon as that heals enough to walk we start training," Arthur muttered sternly.

Giving his sister one last look he left the room to be followed shortly by his father, they walked far enough away that Ava wouldn't be able to hear them even with her Fox senses. His father stopped when he did and gave his son a weary look, he'd never spared Ava any thoughts of worry when it came to her leaving town for a few nights.

"Will you tell me the truth?" Arthur asked gulping in anticipation.

"It depends on the question," his father smiled sadly. He already knew what the boy was going to ask him and the answer would be grim.

"Even with extra training, will she be able to do it?" His voice was hopeful. Though he was almost sure that his father's response would be grim in comparison to what he wished would come from his mouth. Watching his father stare at the ground with a soft expression on his face Arthur already had the answer to his question.

"We were meant to be marked and claimed, that's why we're weaker, we need someone else to share power with in order to survive," he explained motioning towards her room as he spoke of their kind, the Foxes. It'd been the same way for him when he'd gotten marked by his wife and Arthur's and Ava's mother; even with his fiery power he wasn't strong enough to defeat a wolf. In the end he was just happy that the Alpha that claimed him ended up being the person he wanted to spend the rest of his life with, perhaps it would be that way for Ava someday. "We'll have to say our goodbyes, because she won't be coming back," he said in a pained voice.

**.**

_"But that is simply the way of life." -Milo_

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**AN: Eh? Ehh? So now Peter has come into the equation, though he may very quickly exit it as well. Derek will get another chance, maybe.**

**Anyway, Happy thanksgiving, or Turkey day, stuff your face day, whatever you want to call it. Don't forget to review if you want an update.**

**Thanks for reading.**


	3. Dan's Dogs

**AN: Woo, turkey day was great! I hope everyone else's went well, we had amazing pumpkin cheesecake, I sweat that was the most full I've been in a long time, delicious.**

**Reviewers, I thank you once again.**

**Babe7878: I cringed while writing it, the pain was mutual ._.  
But there really weren't too many other words to describe wolf and fox, thankfully they all know each others names now, no more, wolf, wolf, wolf, wolf, fox, fox, fox. Hopefully the times I use them in this chapter don't cause you too much agony.**

**Again, disclaimer, disclaimer. Did not read through this, sorry for mistakes, there shouldn't be anything too terrible. ****Reviews make me happy and urge me to update, don't forget to comment. Enjoy the chapter.**

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_"Don't just give up because you're weak." - Milo_

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**Chapter Three - Dan's Dogs**

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"Lay down for a little while and then I'll send you back to class," Ava muttered shaking her head at a student.

After a lot of intense training with her siblings Ava's father said that she was finally ready to go back to Beacon Hills and confront the Alpha about her mark. By now she could control her power, and she was confident that if it came down to fighting she could win, even if she had to face the Alpha. She'd done her research on the supposed coma patient that was Peter Hale, the wolf that had bitten her, and found out that the other one was his nephew, Derek. She already knew that Scott was the other one, and he wasn't the strongest so it was no biggie there, all that she had left to do was find Peter.

It was easy to convince her teacher that since she hadn't finished the last project with Vanessa that she go back to the town and help out Nurse Johnson for a week or so to make up for it. Making sure to say her goodbyes she was on her way to getting everything sorted out with the big bad wolf that was Peter. For now she was doing her job and looking after the students that came into the Nurses office during class because they didn't want to listen to their teacher drone on anymore.

There really wasn't any blood that came with this job except when it came time for P.E, and then there were plenty of kids coming in with bloody noses, scraped up knees, twisted ankles, and all sorts of injuries. It was the most exciting time of the day for Ava, and even then she had only been here for a day and a half, it would be a long week if it took a while to find Peter.

Hearing someone stumbling down the hallway Ava averted her eyes to the doorway to see who would walk in and claim that they were sick when they really weren't. It turned out to be Scott's friend who almost fell into the room, covering his eyes and pressing his fingers into his forehead as if he was in pain.

"I know I'm in here a lot Mrs. Johnson, but you have to be used to me by-," he started to say until he looked up to see Ava grinning at him. "You're not old," he faltered with his words and blushed from embarrassment.

"That depends on what you clarify as old," she laughed standing up to walk around the desk. "Mrs. Johnson is in the break room, did you need her specifically?" She asked watching his expressions change as he realized who she was.

"No, I just wanted to get out of class," he said sheepishly making Ava frown at him.

"Which class is it?" She asked giving him a skeptical look before handing him the sign in sheet. If he wrote down his name then she would feel less awkward talking to the kid, for now she just knew that he was Scott's friend.

"English," he said taking the sheet and writing his name down. "Stiles by the way," he said giving her the paper back.

"Ava," she nodded at him before motioning to one of the beds behind her.

"You're letting me stay?" His eyes widened in surprise.

"As long as you don't bug me," she said with a smile.

"Awesome!" He exclaimed cheerfully. Letting the fake hint of pain leave his face he wandered over to one of the beds and plopped himself down before pulling out his phone and texting Scott about the Nurse being back. Ava listened to the small noise that his texting made as the keys made soft pinking sounds as he sent a message to Scott and received almost immediately.

Scott wanted Stiles to ask Ava for help with Peter, ever since the Alpha had woken up he had been trying to get Scott to join his pack, and he wasn't strong enough to say no to him. But maybe Ava could help, she was a Fox after all, didn't she have some sort of power? Even if she didn't he was sure that if he mentioned how the man wanted to kill people she would help prevent it, at least he hoped that she would.

"James go back to class, times up and I know you don't have a stomach ache," she said rolling her chair over to where she could see the two boys lying down. The kid next to Stiles groaned before rolling himself off the bed and towards the door, mumbling thanks to Ava before trudging back to class with a sleepy look on his face.

Stiles fumbled with words in his brain as he tried to figure out how to word his questions for the nurse, what was he going to say to her? That he knew she was a Fox and if she didn't help his friend people were going to die? She would think he was crazy, he thought he was crazy to even start off with that.

Pulling himself to his feet Stiles walked over to where Ava was sitting in her chair bored, messing with a tongue depressor, otherwise known as a Popsicle stick, between her fingers. She made no notice of Stiles though she very well knew that he was right behind her.

"Uhm," he started off shakily. Finally turning to look at him as he spoke Ava gave him a sideways glance, letting a curious expression fall across her face before he even said anything else. "I know you're a fox," he eventually got out.

"I know Scott is a werewolf," she countered making sure no one else would hear them.

"Why did you come back to town, after," he stopped short trying to think of something to say. "After they all chased you down?" He questioned watching her frown blandly at him. Instead of replying right away Ava reached down to her pant leg and started to roll it up slowly, which made Stiles shift uncomfortably on his feet. He looked away from her exposed skin thinking that she was going to keep rolling it up though she was already done.

"Someone named Peter bit me," she muttered bitterly looking at the mark on her skin. Stiles glanced at her ankle for a second before looking back at it fully; there was a dark bruise that had formed beneath something that looked like teeth marks. "I came back in order to make that signature go away," she explained before pulling the bottom of her pants back down.

"Oh," was all he said in return.

"Tell Scott," Ava said nodding towards the phone in his hands. Reacting almost immediately Stiles typed out what Ava had said and sent it to Scott. He got the return message quickly, having an awkward silence only for a few minutes before his friend saved the day. Skimming through the text Stiles put his phone down before looking Ava right n the eyes.

"If you help us, we'll help you," he said in a determined voice.

"How would you be able to help me?" She asked with a dull smirk on her face. She could gain almost nothing from working with two high school kids who barely knew what they were dealing with.

"We know where Peter is, if you stick with Scott than you'll be more intimidating," he stuttered frantically trying to think of more reasons that what his friend had mentioned.

"Are you saying I'm not frightening enough?" She hissed at him.

"No, it's just," he gulped anxiously. "There's always more strength in numbers. And Peter has Derek to hold you down if the talk doesn't go well," he muttered making Ava raise her eyebrows.

"I didn't know they were working together," she mumbled casting her gaze towards the ground. As far as she knew most of the Hale family had been killed in the fire years ago, the last time she had been here it didn't appear as if they were friendly with each other. Especially since Derek had left his uncle to rot away in a medical holding area for coma patients for six years, where was the love there?

"Let's say I agree to help, what's the plan?" she inquired giving him a mischievous look.

"You help us fight him, we'll lure him out with Scott, Peter wants him in his pack in order to get revenge. As long as you're with Scott Peter won't be too far behind," Stiles said confidently. He was proud of himself for thinking of something that was actually true and could work, mostly because he'd made it up in ten seconds.

"That doesn't sound too bad actually," she murmured crushing the popsicle stick between her fingers. "I guess I'm in," she said nodding over towards him thoughtfully. "Might as well," she said under her breath.

"I also get to ask you questions about what you are," he added on at the last second. He couldn't help the fact that he was curious about how different a Fox was compared to a wolf, what did she look like when she shifted? Did she have any other cool abilities that Scott didn't? Why did she go crazy on the new moon and not he full moon? She would probably hate him by the end of the day.

"Fine," she huffed at him.

=0=0=

The next time Ava saw stiles he was walking in with Scott at the end of the day, he still had the same grin on his face that he did after she had told him about her Fox powers. He was a funny kid, Ava was starting to like him enough to call him a friend, he was already one of the better humans that she had met. Sticking with his buddy despite his life being threatened on many occasions, Ava had never had a human friend like that, or even any type of person like that. There were always her siblings that loved her through anything, but sometimes it was someone outside of her family that she needed.

"Come with us," Scott said in a shaky but stern voice.

"No," she said with a smile. Stiles faltered with his grin for a second before recognizing the sarcastic air and giving her a fake baffled expression.

"Why not?" Scott countered. "We're going to take you to Derek, he's the closest person to Peter right now," he explained letting confusion show in his eyes. Stiles had said that she agreed to help them if they were sure that Peter would follow Scott around.

"Well let's go then," she said finishing up something on the computer before standing up. Scott gave her a befuddled expression, he just didn't understand women most of the time, and didn't she just say no? "I don't have a car so I can't follow you, which means you have to drop me off afterwards," she said giving them hard eyes.

"Of course," Stiles said with a grin.

"Where are we going?" She asked as they walked out to Stiles' jeep quickly. Ava had seen Nurse Johnson on the way out and explained she was going to monitor a small game in the forest and make sure no one got hurt. It wouldn't have really mattered except that while Ava was staying in Beacon hills she was at the kind woman's house using her guest room.

"Derek's house in the forest," Stiles said ushering her into the back seat while he and Scott sat up front. There was a look of sorrow that crossed Ava's face as she remembered some of her dreams over the past days that she had been at home, she kept dreaming of the house on fire and people screaming.

"The house that burned?" She asked already knowing the answer.

"Yeah," he replied softly.

"How are you going to get rid of Peter's mark?" Scott asked curiously. Unlike Stiles he had not spent a good half hour spewing question after question at Ava to learn pretty much everything about her Fox half.

"I have to rub his blood on the mark and then burn it off. Which is why I want to talk to Peter to see if he'll let me go willingly and give me some blood, otherwise I'm going to have to fight him," she muttered itching to get everything over with already.

"You're going to end up fighting him," Scott said without much thought. From what Stiles had told him and after all the people that Peter had murdered there was no way he'd pass up on being more powerful. He'd heard from his friend that her power had something to do with fire, if Peter had a chance at becoming even more powerful, with flames no less, he would fight to keep it.

"I know," she said casting her eyes down.

"What if someone kills the Alpha while you still have its mark on you?" Stiles asked with an excited voice. He'd been trying to think of more questions to ask her ever since he dead panned in the nurse's office and she sent him back to class, so he was happy he thought of a good one.

"More? You still have more?" She questioned giving him an accusing look. He smiled at her in the rearview mirror and glanced to see that Scott was also interested in the answer. "The mark will change and I'll have to deal with the next Alpha, but it'll still be incomplete," she said giving them sideways glances. "That means if you kill him Scott, you better give me your blood," her voice was dark now.

"I will," he assured her. Her face brightened into a smile almost immediately making him wonder how she would have responded if he refused.

Feeling someone behind them in the forest Ava turned her head around sharply, her Fox ears flicked out as her human ones disappeared and an orange tinge flashed through her eyes. There was no one there but she felt a presence in the forest that had been there before now, even Scott seemed a little uncomfortable. Turning back towards the windshield she checked the rearview mirror to see that Stiles was gaping at her and staring at her new hair colored fox ears.

"Watch the road," she said sternly.

Stumbling with words he finally turned back in front of him and sighed when Derek's old house came into view, he was hoping to see Ava's Fox powers in action. It was one of the reasons he'd suggested to Scott to take her to see Derek, he wanted to know if it was like a flame or a burning heat. Behind him Ava had stiffened at the sight of the charred structure and couldn't help but remember it from her dreams. Many times she'd woken with tears in her eyes, from hearing the screams inside her head until she was clawing at her skin and trying to get them out.

Scott noticed the way she stiffened and watched as her expression lessened and died away, leaving her face dead of emotion as she stared at the house with an eerie silence about her. Her ears twitched as she felt the same presence as before behind them again, but she didn't turn to look this time. Instead she waited until Stiles stopped and Scott got out of the jeep before she got out as well and walked calmly towards the blackened building.

"Are you okay?" Stiles asked when she stopped for a moment.

"Not really," her voice was soft. "But I'm going inside, and you're staying out here. If you decide to leave while I'm in there your jeep will suffer," she growled at Stiles making him cringe at the thought of multiple dents.

"We'll wait," Scott said seeing his friend's crestfallen face.

"Good," she muttered before turning back to the house and walking up slowly. The mystery person was somewhere behind her in the forest until she pushed open the old door and walked inside, her nose scrunching at the smell of soot and charcoal.

Taking short breaths Ava was reminded of the screams again as she looked across the half gone house that was laid out in front of her. Feeling her skin burn at the memory of flames Ava let her tail grow out as her teeth sharpened and her claws got a little longer. She whined softly while letting her fingertips slide across the wall as she walked through the house, gathering black on the tips.

"What do you want Fox?" A sudden hard voice asked her from the top of the stairs. Finally locking eyes with the man that had been following them all through the forest Ava saw his fingernails grow to points as he stood above her.

"My name's Ava, I know you're Derek," she said walking into the light that barely made it into the house. She heard him take a quick breath as the light caught her features and illuminated her to his eyes.

Derek had known the Fox was back in town as soon as he'd picked up on her scent again, Peter had said something about almost claiming the girl when she'd been there recently. He also knew that she was back in town and had told Derek that if he found her to bring her to him, because they could use her power. He didn't remember what she looked like, the first time he'd seen her was from yards away, all he'd known was that her hair was red like fox fur. The next time was in the darkest part of night as he was growling at her in the forest, not a very good time to check her appearance.

But now as he stared down at her Derek had time to admire the way that she appeared in the light of the sun. Her coy green eyes were looking up at him defiantly as she took a defensive stance against his unmoving form, the soft expression on her face almost made her look even better. At the sight of the ears atop her head there was an urge within him to lurch forward and clamp down on her skin, to feel her blood rush beneath his lips.

Instead he gave her a stern expression of malice; it was just because she was a Fox that he was feeling like this, not because she herself was actually very pretty.

"Peter's looking for you," he said watching her eyes falter for a moment.

"Tell me honestly," her voice was clear. "Is there any chance he'll let me go and allow me to remove his mark?" She asked asking up the stairs slowly. He watched her warily before letting a mocking smile spread across his lips in a sneer.

"No," was his only reply. Finally she got to the top of the stairs and looked up at him fully, she only came up to his nose, which made him want to grin down at her but he held himself back. Her eyes adopted a more deceiving expression as she started to walk around him lazily while looking his form up and down.

"What if," she started to speak in a low sultry voice. Raising her hand up to his face Derek stared down at her darkly but made no move to get away from her as she let her fingertips brush against his cheek. "I was to threaten his pack mates?" Her voice was soft as she whispered up to him.

For a moment Derek reveled at the feeling of her skin on his, he could feel her soft fingers tug on the ruggedness of his face. Her hand was warm, almost too hot as she trailed her fingers down to his chin, unaware that the soot on her hands had transferred over to his cheeks. Despite his feeling he glared down at her venomously, showing no reaction and making her give him a bland expression before reaching out to touch him with her other burning hand.

He grabbed her suddenly, throwing her against the nearest wall and pinning her hands to the aging wood that was starting to rub off on her clothes, making them get black smudges. He glared down at her with a stern look on his face, his eyes shining blue for a moment before he growled and bared his teeth. She glared right back at him and pulled at her hands uselessly before her eyes started to change colors and her skin began to heat up uncomfortably.

"You can try," he stated staring at her helpless form beneath his. Trapping her legs with the rest of his body he leaned towards the source of heat that her body was, it was like she was her own fire, radiating heat in wave like flames. Her scent was all around him now and he felt his mouth water at the touch of merely leaning forward and claiming her, surely he would be plenty powerful with her powers to help him.

"Let me go before I burn you," she snarled pushing against him again when he didn't respond. Suddenly her skin was smoldering against his but he let his burn for a few seconds, hearing the hiss of his own flesh made him want to cringe and gag. But he kept her in his grip to show her that he wasn't afraid of her power, she could heat up all she wanted and he would deny her.

"I'll heal," he finally said before letting her go.

Ava pushed herself off the wall and glared darkly at Derek as he walked away from her calmly; even with all the training she had gone through she couldn't beat even one wolf. He wasn't even an Alpha and she couldn't move again him when he had her pinned, she'd even started to burn him and he hadn't let go. The next time she got into a fight with another creature she wouldn't hold back, if it meant that she wouldn't be claimed anymore she could afford to be weak for a few days if it meant using a lot of power.

"Next time I won't hold back," she seethed at him. Taking slow steps towards the staircase she tried to calm herself down so she didn't blow up into flames and knock herself out from the strain.

"Neither will I," he replied turning to stare at her powerfully. Ava's let her emotions show and gave him a threatening gaze; usually she tried to keep a calm demeanor so her enemies wouldn't know she was frustrated. At the moment she didn't care, she was angry with herself for being so weak. "You don't have to look for Peter, he's already searching for you," he said with a superior countenance.

There was a low growl in her throat as a response as she walked down the stairs with her hands still glowing faintly from the heat of her body; Derek could only imagine the pain that would come from direct contact with that. Stopping herself short at the door her ears flattened against her head as she looked around the ruined rooms once more.

"I'm sorry," he barely picked out her voice in the silence. "For what happened here," she said softly without turning around, her hands burned ever brighter as she spoke. "Sometimes I can hear them screaming in my dreams," was all she said before disappearing into the light of day.

Derek had to stop himself from lurching forward to follow her, how could she ever hear them screaming unless she had been here? He wanted to ask her what she meant and at the same time mourn for all the family that he had lost with someone who understood. Instead he let his confident expression falter as he listened to Stiles and Scott talk to her when she exited.

"What now?" Scott asked watching her glowing hands in wonder. Ava was trying her best to calm down as her hands began to flicker slightly.

"I'm staying with you," she stated as if it was obvious.

"What? Why?" He protested giving her an accusing look.

"Because Peter follows you, this was part of the deal," she said sternly giving the boy a harsh look. "Or do you not want my help anymore?" She questioned letting her hand glow a little brighter.

"No," Stiles said before realizing what he'd said. "Yes, no, yes," he was starting to confuse even himself before he shook it off. "We need your help, we can go get something to eat in plain sight," he offered giving Scott a demanding expression. "Lure him out," he said as if it was obvious what they would be doing.

"But Allison," Scott complained for a moment before Stiles shoved him lightly.

"The Argent girl?" Ava asked before Stiles ushered them to get into the jeep. "Don't tell me you like her?" She gave him a sour expression. Ava had made sure that she knew who all the threats in town would be, the Argent family was fairly high up on the list.

"Too much," Stiles shouted over the engine starting.

"That's why this has been so hard for you," Ava murmured in understanding. "Oh, you're so stupid, how cute," she gave him an apologetic look. Stiles scoffed at her comment before Scott glared at him and looked out the window with an angry pout; she simply gave him a goofy smile. "So where are we going to eat?" She looked to Stiles for an answer.

"How bout we pick up some burgers and go to the park?" Stiles offered earning a glare from Ava behind him. "What?" He questioned.

"Are you looking to die? Why would we go to a secluded park? It's perfect murder material," she said with emotionless eyes.

"Yes, yes it is," he agreed nodding his head vigorously. "Then we'll go to Dan's and eat outside," he decided while turning to go into town. Dan's Dog's was a hotdog eatery where you ordered your food and sat outside to eat it. After Dan was arrested on false charges of using real canine meat in his food people tended to leave of the later part of the restaurant's name, there was only one shop left open.

"Dan's doesn't even have good food," Scott said unhappily next to them.

"Then order fries and stuff your face, you can't mess up fried potato sticks," Ava muttered giving him a deep stare.

"You'd be surprised," was all Scott answered with.

=0=0=

Peter didn't show up, they got their nasty hot dogs, which Ava couldn't even stand the smell of, and sat sipping their drinks in front of the awful stench for an hour and a half. Finally Stiles got a call from his dad, whom he explained was the sheriff in town, he wanted him home. Deciding to try and do better after the Lacrosse game the next night Ava directed Stiles to where she was staying during her couple weeks in town.

They laughed at her when she told them that she was staying with the school nurse Mrs. Johnson, and that the woman had specifically asked Ava to call her by her first name, Holly. She was a nice lady, but Ava understood that it was odd for a student to know too much about their teachers or any adult at school.

Waving goodbye to each other Stiles sped off towards Scott's house; Ava watched them until he turned a corner and disappeared. Seeing that the house was dark Ava was thankful that Holly had told her where the spare key was hidden, under a fake rock in the bushes.

Without meaning to Ava let her fox ears snap up when she heard someone walking up behind her after she got the key and stood up. Immediately she recognized the smell of him and almost whined at the pain that radiated from her ankle as his mark burned with anticipation at his arrival.

"Ava," he said her name softly. It made her shiver visibly and she turned around with defiance in her eyes before latching onto his gaze as he offered her a gentle smile. "How nice of you to come back into town, now I don't have to chase you down," he said taking further steps towards her. In response she turned around as if he wasn't even there and walked to the door, placing the key into the door before he was suddenly right behind her. Breathing down onto her huskily, making her hair flutter slightly.

"You already did that," she commented stalling her hand on unlocking the door.

"You're right, I did," she could feel a smirk worm its way into his words. "The fire is something I wasn't expecting, but am more than thankful for now," he moved even closer to her as she tried to work out a solution in her mind. "I never knew a Fox would smell this good," he said inhaling deeply.

"We need to talk," she finally said opening the door and walking away from him bitterly. She wasn't expecting him to be so gentle and at the same time so creepy, not to mention attractive, if he wasn't a crazy werewolf it'd be a different conversation.

"Do we?" He asked following her into the house as she turned on one of the lights and went into the kitchen to get some real food. "I barely even know your name," he said walking onto the tiled floor.

Turning to face him Ava leaned against the counter with a stern expression on her face, staring at him dully with her piercing green eyes. For a second she thought about what she was going to say, biting her lip ever so slightly before opening her lips to speak.

"I don't want to be in your pack," she stated coldly. She expecting the wolf to explode like others had when they asked if she wanted to join, sometimes they were so overcome with rage and want that they lunged at her. But Peter merely smiled at her understandingly making Ava glare at him all the more, if had been a regular werewolf and not some weird coma survivor she wouldn't feel so off when they spoke.

"I must have misheard you then," he took a few steps forward. You said that if I was part of your pack you would've taken care of me," he said with an almost fond expression on his face. "Did you lie?" He questioned with fake hurt in his eyes. She snarled at him letting her sharp teeth show for a second.

"I didn't, you're not a part of my pack," she seethed turning to move away from him before he slammed his hand down on the counter to keep her in place. "I'll set you on fire and watch you burn," she threatened glaring up at his indifferent face. Again Peter smiled at her, causing her defensive demeanor to falter before he grabbed onto her forcefully and lifted her onto the counter, pushing backwards until she was trapped against the wall for the second time that day.

"But you will be a part of mine," he said thoughtfully. "I mean, you've already met Derek," he commented catching his scent on her. "Don't you want to protect us?" He asked giving her a wounded stare.

"No," she spat out pushing against him.

"Too bad," he muttered pushing his upper body against hers so she couldn't move around too much. Of course there was the occasional stab of her claws into his skin and she tried to get him off her, but by now Peter was too power hungry to listen to anything.

"I'm warning you," she stated lividly before feeling his hand take off her shoe. She struggled against him all the more as he shushed her softly while letting his fingers travel up her leg as he pushed her pants up to her knee.

"There it is," he murmured glancing at the mark on her ankle that he had made. "Not in the right place though, isn't it supposed to be right here?" He questioned reaching up to touch just between her neck and shoulder.

**.**

_"You can always become stronger." -Milo_

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**AN: Oh goodness, I'm so happy I got this chapter out. I'd already written three thousand words when my dad decided to upgrade my computer, needless to say I lost those three thousand forever. The agony! It's the main reason why I did not proof read this, I just wanted to get the blasted chapter done, so again I apologize for mistakes.**

**What do you think? Peter? Derek? Obviously most people are rooting for Derek, even I am...  
Are there any going for Peter? Don't be shy, he's not too horrible looking.**

**Anyway, thanks for reading and sticking around, don't forget to review (I hunger for reviews). Happy shopping for Christmas gifts, don't get trampled.**


	4. Friends

**AN: I was curious and now I know, the Peter Support has spoken! Unfortunately this is my story and I have many ideas that could go one way or the other in terms of who Ava will go with, keep your fingers crossed.**

**FlyFreeScreamLoud: Yeah, it is a little ironic... But that doesn't mean I don't have ideas about how to make it not too ironic! Then again my idea's change so rapidly it could never happen, if there was a way for it no to be over ironic would you root for it then?**

**Yet there's Derek mrmmghgmh, too many attractive people in Teen Wolf. Again I didn't edit this, but I'm too excited and just want to get it out again, also my brain is starting to hurt, too many words for a weak mind.**

**Hey you know what, I am really thankful for all my reviewers, you guys make me so happy, one of my other stories has seven chapters and twenty reviews, so you are definitely winning all my writing attention. Keep it up and enjoy the chapter.**

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**.**

_"It makes me sleepy, thinking about everything that could go wrong." -Milo_

**.**

**Chapter Four - Friends**

When he touched her there Ava finally lost it and pushed against him again, this time he moved a little bit and smirked at her before seeing the color of her eyes. They were the same color as they had been the night in the forest when her hands had felt like lava on his skin. As he reached to touch her again she let her hand touch his shoulder almost soothingly before it felt like his skin was beginning to bubble from the heat.

She reached around his form and got a hold of his other hand before she growled and her eyes seemed to ignite with fire, he had to pull his arm away almost frantically to keep it from getting burned too badly. Kicking his body away from hers she jumped off the counter and landed briskly with a small bark that made Peter grin all the more, he was happy that the Fox he'd partially claimed was so powerful. But as far as he knew Derek would be needed if he was going to claim her completely, because it was obvious that she really didn't like him.

Taking off her jacket quickly Ava hissed slightly as her hand began to catch fire, she hadn't gotten this angry in a while, if she touched anyone right now it wouldn't just be painful. It'd take days to heal, even for the quick recovery of a werewolf; Peter would have a burn for at least a day or two if she touched him right now. But that was what she wanted right? To scare him away and let him know that she wouldn't be shoved around.

"You don't want to mess up this nice house do you?" Peter finally spoke after watching her power shift and grow beneath her skin.

"That'd be so rude of me," she said imagining the poor nurses face when she came home to a flaming house.

It'd be just like what happened to Peter's house, leaving only a shell of what used to be a thriving and happy house. Then she did something that shocked her even more than it did Peter as she walked towards him with an understanding smile on her face, her skin started to glow like a live ember.

"If you don't leave right now, I'll melt your skin off," she whispered stopping right in front of him.

"You're only making me want you more," he responded in the same voice before turning away from her slowly. "You can't fight both of us," was the last thing she heard him say.

Slowly she sunk down to the cool tile of the kitchen floor and sighed deeply while trying to control her temper. There was a level of excitement that came to her as she breathed deeply on the ground; she'd finally been able to defend herself, while it wasn't exactly as she had expected the feeling was still invigorating. Bringing her hand up to her face she watched as the glowing heat slowly subsided until her hand was a normal color again.

The moment that she had felt empowered was also the time she hoped that she wouldn't completely lose her temper, she'd only seen her father do it once but afterwards he didn't wake up for a week. Looking at the hand that had previously been enflamed Ava sighed darkly as she imagined what it would feel like to lose control completely.

It wasn't something that she ever wanted to happen, in the end she just hoped that whatever pack she chose for herself would take care of her enough to not let it happen.

Hearing the door open Ava got to her feet quickly and started to sift through a few of the cabinets before Holly walked into the room and gave her a kind smile.

"I thought you'd eaten out?" She said as Ava froze after opening the wrong cabinet.

"I would hardly call that food edible," she gave her a dead zombie expression. The older woman laughed before walking over to her and opening one of the doors to what appeared to be all the snacks, though there weren't many Ava smiled at her and grabbed some rice cakes.

"You did good today, holding your own," the woman said giving her a gentle pat on the back. For a second Ava gave her a stern look with wide eyes that were frantic, had she seen Peter? Did she know about her? "At school there were no complaints about an inexperienced student working in the nurse's office," she explained making Ava relax greatly.

"Oh, thanks," she chuckled letting herself breathe again. It was a feeling she wasn't used to back home, having to hide what she was and be fearful of anyone finding out, the mini heart attack she'd just given herself was almost sickening. She had to hurry up and get rid of Peter's dumb mark and get back home, this wasn't where she belonged.

"If you continue to do this well I might just have to convince the school board to hire you as an assistant," she said with a grin. "See you in the morning," she said before walking out of the kitchen and up the stairs.

"Goodnight," Ava whispered taking an absentminded bite out of the rice cake. It had been a while since she'd eaten one of these, and yet she wasn't surprised at the texture of it. Styrofoam.

=0=0=

The next day at school Stiles was the first familiar face that came into the nurse's office, he eyed Mrs. Johnson frantically, Ava could almost see him pushing the older woman out the door in order to talk to her. Instead he gave her an anxious expression before Holly finally looked over to see him and gave him a sigh; he was one of the frequenters she had grown used to seeing.

"I'll take his temperature," she offered motioning for Stiles to follow her into another section of the room.

"Thank you," the woman sighed, relieved that she could spend a few days not glaring at the young Stilinski.

"Do you always come in here?" Ava mused making the boy sit down before giving him a stern look.

"We have a new plan," he whispered checking to make sure Mrs. Johnson wasn't looking at them.

"He knows where I'm staying," she interrupted anything else he was going to say. Stiles turned back to her slowly with a baffled expression on his face, his mouth gaping open as he tried to force this new information into their already existing plan. Ava sighed and passed the forehead thermometer over his temple to make it look like she was actually doing what she said she would.

"What?" He said loudly before lowering his voice.

"Last night, after you dropped me off, Holly wasn't back yet but he was already there. I scared him away with some fire and threats but he's not going to leave me alone now," she muttered grabbing at some random tools and making Stiles participate.

"I'm guessing the talk didn't go well," he gulped watching her expression falter.

"Not exactly," she laughed shortly. "I have to stay with you and Scott today, even at the game tonight, otherwise I won't stand a chance," she whispered looking him in the eyes. She was giving off a pleading aura that made Stiles understand that she was scared, or perhaps worried was a better way of putting it. "If he and Derek are both coming after me, something might happen," her voice was low.

"No problem then, we'll come get you after school and you can hang out with Lydia at the game," he said reassuringly. She stared at him blandly when he mentioned the name Lydia, who the heck was she? "Lydia always goes to all the games," he said as if it was common knowledge.

"Fine, but you better not forget," she growled at him.

"Jeez, don't let your claws dull," he smirked at her bland reaction. He was trying out some jokes that Scott never seemed to get, perhaps it wasn't the best time to test them out.

"Back to class," she muttered standing up quickly.

"You let me stay yesterday," his voice was accusing.

"Fine," she growled pointing towards a bed. He grinned at her before nodding and giving her a thumbs up, shaking her head she turned to see Holly staring at her with a knowing expression.

"That kid is always in here, you'll get used to him."

=0=0=

The rest of the day went by smoothly; perhaps the only high light of the day was when a kid came into class with his hand super glued to his friends arm. The whole time the students were in the nurse's office Ava just wanted to laugh at them, especially when Holly started to pull the two of them apart and they began to complain. As soon as Ava mentioned something about just yanking them apart like ripping off a band aid but instead ripping off a hand they shut up and dealt with the slow pain.

By the end of the day Ava was ready to get out of the school and go somewhere, anywhere that she didn't have to deal with kids lying to her faces about being sick and needing to go home. Every time they fake coughed and fibbed to her she wanted to spit in their face and throw them back into the classroom. It was one of the reasons why her younger sister was convinced that being a doctor was the wrong job for her to have, because she had no sympathy for whiny babies. She was going to turn out to be a horrible doctor.

Just as she was putting some papers in her bag Mrs. Johnson came into the room with a smile on her face that scared Ava slightly. In the few days that she had been staying with the older woman and working as her assistant, there were three expressions that she knew meant trouble for her already.

The first one was a frown that Ava had only seen once when Holly had walked into the teacher's lounge to see that there was no coffee. Not surprisingly everyone else in the room seemed to slowly move towards the door as one of the other staff members proceeded to empty the last of the coffee into their cup. It had been a thrilling first two hours of the day as the woman did not cease movement until she got her cup of caffeine. The second expression was something that made Ava relax, when Holly glanced at the clock four times in a row before checking her clipboard it meant she was going to leave the room. The last expression that she's seen a lot of was when she would smile a sort of weight lifting grin when she realized that because Ava was there it meant she had one less thing to worry about.

That's what this smile was.

"You know the last time you and your partner were here and you got sick you missed out on a Lacrosse game," she started. In a way the Fox already knew where the conversation was going to end but the woman would finish her speech regardless of what she said. "But it's a good thing that there's another one tonight," she beamed at the younger girl before patting her shoulder. "I told coach Finstock that you would be happy to fill in for me at the game," she spoke as if she was doing Ava a favor.

"Did you?" Ava faked excitement.

"Of course," she nodded walking around to her desk to collect her things. "Don't worry, nothing too big should happen, you're a smart girl, you'll do fine," she assured her while picking up her bag.

"I'll be better than fine," she said confidently with a big grin on her face. The nurse smiled at her encouragingly before walking out of the room and missing Ava's dead expression that appeared as soon as the woman left.

"You're scary when you're that happy," Stiles muttered walking into the room to see Ava's bland expression. She gave him a small sneer before sinking down in one of the chairs and looking around the room to check for Scott, he walked in a few seconds later making her nod at him.

"You should see me when I get really tired, it's weird," she commented making Scott look at her quizzically. "Are you good at fighting?" She asked him suddenly. He looked taken aback by such a question; glancing at her to see that she was serious he fumbled around with his wording before finally responding.

"Yeah, why?" He responded shakily. She gave him an exhausted expression before sighing and letting her head droop towards the floor, her eyes found his after a few seconds.

"They want us in their pack," she stated giving Stiles a hard stare. "You and I, with our help they get stronger, I mean they get fire from me which is much cooler than just strength, but still. I feel lucky because I'm not at home right now, there is nothing he can use against me, but you have your family and friends," she said in a soft voice. Scott was starting to understand was she was getting at now. "If you want to protect everyone from him, you're going to have to fight," she muttered seeing Stiles look around the room dully. This wasn't really something that applied to him.

"I won't let anyone get hurt," his voice was a little more confident now.

"I'm not trying to scare you; I'm just making sure that you won't be a burden, because if I have to fight for both of us we won't stand a chance," she warned staring him down threateningly.

"I can fight," he muttered glaring at her when she gave him a pitiable glance.

"I hope so," she surprised the both of them with a smile. "So, do you stay here all afternoon until the game? Or are we going somewhere before? You have to tell me how this works, all we have where I live is Soccer and Volleyball," she murmured grabbing her bag excitedly.

Scott gave her a patronizing visage wondering how she could change from careful and threatening to bubbly and anxious. It was very confusing but at the same time he understood as soon as Stiles whispered to him softly.

"Girl's are weird," was all he said. Scott nodded his head quickly, Allison was somehow different because he could tell what her expressions meant and he could even hear how her heart changed according to her moods but this girl. This fox in front of him was a on a whole new level of weird that he just couldn't figure out, if he was honest with himself it made his head hurt so he gave it up.

"I know I'm weird," was all Ava said in return giving them a hard stare.

"We're going out to get some real food this time," Stiles explained walking out of the room and dragging Scott behind him. "And then we can discuss fighting strategies before the game, or whatever," he said beckoning for them to follow him to his jeep.

"Sounds like a plan," Ava said giving Scott a grin.

They really didn't end up doing all that much before the game besides stopping to get some sandwiches that weren't made out of dog meat and then going to Stiles' house to play a video game and joke around about Scott being able to fight. Before she knew it Ava was sitting in the bleachers next to someone Stiles had called Lydia, and surprisingly enough not too far from the Argents. It was an unsettling sort of feeling, being next to someone who's very job was to hunt down her family and kill them. Granted it only happened if they themselves had already spilled innocent blood, but still, she wouldn't mind sitting somewhere else.

Since the last time Ava had been in town she'd seen the team practice but that was the extent of her knowledge of Lacrosse, her sister explained it differently, _like football, but the ball is much smaller and you can whack each other with sticks. _It made Ava laugh now that she thought about it because it was very much accurate despite having the potential to anger everybody on the field.

"So who are you?" The girl named Lydia asked Ava with a suspicious expression in her eyes.

"Assistant Nurse, Mrs. Johnson wanted me to take her place tonight," the girl continued to stare at her when she said nothing about any of the other students. "Friends with Stiles and Scott," she added making the girl nod understandingly.

"Our team is very good," she pursed her lips before looking back to the field.

"Well I have nothing to compare them to," Ava said with a dreadful grin on her face. If this girl was going to talk to her the whole game Ava would have to consider using her status as nurse and going to sit next to the players bench to escape her. It was something her brother always did that annoyed her so very much, chatting through movies and games about nonsense, she didn't care! Couldn't they tell by the expression on her face?

"Do they not play lacrosse in your town?" She asked making Ava sigh.

"No," she muttered hoping the girl caught her irritated tone and quieted herself. She seemed to get the hint for a few minutes before once again her voice started to invade Ava's thoughts, this time talking about some boy named Jackson. She could tell that the girl liked him, or possibly even loved him, but that was the extent of her knowledge. She didn't hate the girl, in fact Lydia seemed quite smart the way she spoke about different plays that would be beneficial, but Ava just didn't care about lacrosse.

Instead of telling the girl to hush before she threw her off the bleachers Ava made up the excuse that she should probably go down to be with the team on the benches, just in case something happened she would be the first to help out. Lydia mentioned something about the players being more than capable of taking care of themselves but Ava stood up and walked away from the girl.

"Nice talking with you," she said with a fake smile.

She sat next to Stiles on the bench, Finstock gave her a cold stare before seeing that she was next to Stilinksi who wasn't of any use to him anyway, so he let her be.

"Lydia's awesome isn't she?" Stiles asked as soon as it was quiet enough for them to hear each other. Ava gave the boy a baffled expression before realizing that he liked the girl, he'd merely been excited to tell Ava that she was going to be sitting next to the girl. It was kind of cute the way he didn't show his attraction so obviously that it assaulted her but just enough that it made her laugh.

"You fell pretty hard didn't you?" She teased making him blush softly. They spoke lightly throughout the game, commenting on people who could have done better while Stiles explained the rules of the game while glancing back at Lydia to see who she was looking at. Of course she was looking at Jackson, but Ava admired his wish-fulness.

Somewhere in the middle of the game Ava could feel their presence behind her, it was subtle at first as if Peter's scent had merely been taken away by a breeze and finally brought beneath her nose. Then she could smell Derek, his scent made it to her nose much faster than Peter's had, as if he'd run past quickly and left his aroma to linger in the air behind him.

Focusing on the smell of Peter as his aura got closer to the bleachers Ava caught the attention of Stiles as she let her body freeze as she closed her eyes.

"What is it?" He asked right in Ava's ear.

"Shhhh," she shushed him while trying to pick out a single voice in the crowd.

"Ava," she heard Peter's voice through all the mess. In her calm focused state of mind it was almost as if he was standing next to her and whispering into her ear. She could imagine the feeling of his soft breath against her neck and he thought about how he might be able to threaten her. "It's amazing that you can hear me," she could almost hear the smile in his voice. "It's part of our bond isn't it? That mark on your ankle connects us, even if it's not complete," his voice was ever so soft in her mind.

Stiles watched Ava carefully, noting the way her eyes opened sharply only to close slowly again. It was weird the way she was sitting so stoically against a raging crowd and lacrosse team that were happening all around her. He felt it as well, as if she had left the noisy reality around them and created her own little realm of silence, and she'd taken him there, perhaps this was part of her power as well?

"Do you know of my past?" His voice asked her before her mind was suddenly bombarded with images of the fire and his stay in the hospital, he'd personally sent her those memories.

"Yes," she finally spoke making Stiles jump next to her.

"Come talk to me," he demanded of her.

"Maybe later," her voice was cold making the curious teenager next to her shiver at the tone.

"Let me rephrase that," the agitation in his voice made her stiffen. "I'll kill someone," his comment made her stop breathing for a moment before her eyes hardened when she realized that there was no way out of this. Getting up slowly Ava ignored Stiles as he tried to talk to her and instead said something about needing some medical supplies from her car to the coach. He shrugged her off without taking another glance before looking back at his players.

"Stay here," she whispered to Stiles before walking behind the bleachers and towards the forest. Stiles watched her for a few minutes before trying to get Scott's attention on the field, but the boy didn't seem to care about anything other than the game at the moment.

"Yeah right," he muttered before sneaking off to follow the Fox.

As the leaves crunched beneath her shoes Ava was aware that Peter was only a little ways in front of her while Derek was beginning to walk up from behind her, as a means to cut off any way she might have to escape. It was strange for her, to be in the middle of two wolves that weren't part of her family and weren't fighting for their chance to claim her. Perhaps it was because she was already partly claimed, it'd never happened to her before, to even be half claimed, and yet here she was. She finally stopped walking when Peter came into the light and stood in front of her with a demanding air about him.

"I didn't know you had seen my memories," he said with a curious expression on his face. "It was a little strange hearing from Derek that you'd heard the screams of my family as they burned to death," he commented with a sly grin on his face. Ava cringed at his lack of sympathy towards his own family members, the least he could say was that they had passed away, burned to death seemed to fragile and morbid.

"I was a little shocked as well, to learn that you'd killed your niece," she commented earning a cold look from him. Stiles had been more than happy to fill her in on everything that had happened with the Alpha on what they had discovered in exchange for information on what she was. Apparently it was more exciting to learn what a Fox was than learn about a crazy man who had been in a coma for the past six years.

"It was an accident,' his voice was hollow when he said this. Ava felt Derek stop cold behind her when she'd spoken of his sister, of course it was a soft spot for the wolf, if one of Ava's sister's had been killed she'd burn the person who killed her until there was nothing left to recognize.

"Is that what you told Derek," she said blandly. Peter tilted his head at her for a moment before sighing and shaking his head at her.

"Do we really have to talk about this, he won't join your side anytime soon. As far as I know, about Foxes anyway, is that you never stop running from wolves until you are claimed by one. Not even wanted in your own pack, that must feel pretty cold," he said with a smirk when she growled at him.

"There can only be one Fox in each pack, they'd keep me if they could," she snarled showing her fangs to them.

"Oh," he said gently. "Did I hit a soft spot?" He smiled at her. Stopping herself short Ava closed her mouth and straightened her body up just enough to feel like she was back in control of her own emotions, this man was not going to get the better of her just yet.

"I know I can't imagine leaving without removing this mark, because I will continue to dream about your wretched past that makes my hear shudder," she spat making Peter look at her painfully for a moment.

"So you're dreaming about them then, how unfortunate," he said making her shiver at his voice. Behind her Derek shifted uncomfortably with this new information, that was why she knew about everything that had happened. She'd heard the screams and even seen the agony on their faces through Peter's eyes, as if she had been there as well. "But I have no Sympathy for you, only the desire for power," he explained taking a step towards her.

"If you want me," she started to smile as she spoke. Casting her eyes away from the two wolves she let her body heat up slowly as her fox ears began to grow from the top of her hair. The rest of her form changed to accommodate her new feelings of power and rage against those who defied her freedom, the fire that rushed beneath her skin sifted through her body.

Watching from behind Derek marveled at the way the fiery heat spread through her body and made her skin glow as it traveled to her hands, the way her fox ears and tail seemed to make her look even more mysterious in the light of the moon. She turned to look at him suddenly, her green eyes flickering beneath the color of the red that was now taking it over. There was the faint presence of someone else behind him but Derek didn't seem to care at the moment, both of the wolves seemed incapable of taking their eyes off the creature in front of them. Was there really someone who could look like this and still smile like a normal human and go back to walking around in the streets complaining about the cold?

As they looked at her change Ava was aware of their burning stares on her form, most creatures on Earth went their wholes lives without ever seeing a Fox take hold of their element and combine it with their body. Even now as Ava's skin began to change color according to the heat within her body she crouched in order to get closer to the ground, she'd only ever shifted to her true form once, her father explained that it was very dangerous. That the first and only time she'd combined with her power she'd almost disappeared, but now wasn't the time to think about that.

She had to run.

"You're going to have to catch me," her voice was softer in the wind. It was odd how hearing her voice seemed to warm them, as if her word was a warm breeze that licked at their faces before diminishing into the night.

At that moment there was a rush of heat that streaked past them before the burning sight of Ava shot out of sight in a flurry of flames, only leaving enough time for Peter to follow her with his eyes before growling at Derek and rushing after the girl. This was a surprise, the last time the girl had been in front of them in the forest she didn't have nearly the same aura of control as she did now, the way her eyes burned with confidence made Peter wary of her. It was bad luck that the only Fox they would probably ever meet was one of fire, as if he didn't hate it enough already after flames consumed his house and family. Some cruel twist of fate is what this was, not that he really cared at the moment, all that remained in his mind was the desire to capture.

Right in front of his eyes a creature he'd only heard rumors about came to life and burned with such ferocity he couldn't leave it alone, such a rare creature like that needed to be captured before someone else claimed it for their own. A fox like that needed a cage, a prison that he could keep her in until she couldn't escape him anymore. He could almost taste the power on his tongue, the feeling of fire coursing through his veins trailed through his mind faintly.

As soon as Peter rushed after her Derek started off at a slow run before shifting to his other form to follow, but he wasn't fast enough, Peter had shed his clothing as soon as his werewolf body no longer needed them. All he could do was follow the trail of blackened leaves that was a path left by Ava as she sprinted along the forest floor.

The only person left to make any final comments was Stiles as he stared at where Ava used to be, her glowing form burned into his eyes as she walked slowly over to where she had been standing, the ground was charred and ashen.

"Wow," his voice couldn't even describe the amount of wonder he had seen. Werewolves were something that had only been mythical to him a few months ago, and how his best friend was one of them, he didn't think anything else could be more cool than that. But he'd been wrong.

**.**

_"We can't even pretend that everything is okay." - Milo_

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**AN: After writing the last few paragraphs I was struck with the best idea ever for this story o_o  
So excited about it now...except that I have to write my way there.**

**Be happy that i had surgery Monday and that I could write and rewrite this chapter until I thought it was good enough to put online, the gratefulness should overflow. As always I apologize for mistakes, minimal to no editing done.**

**But what did you think? Sorry if Lydia sounded too chatty, Ava is just a very easily irritated person when it comes to teenagers sometimes. As always don't forget to review, it fuels my writing train, and thank you for reading!**


	5. Exhausted

**AN: A lot happens in this chapter, I realize that I may have taken to long to get to certain parts of the story, sorry! Let me try to make it up by moving on quickly to the parts where Ava and, other person, start to get to know each other more. Minimal to no editing done, I apologize to the grammar Nazis, please forgive me.**

**FlyFreeScreamLoud: No, it wasn't that serious, thank you, just kidney stones, I've already been dealing with those for about six years. Deva, sounds pretty good to me.**

**Babe7878: With the amount of stories I've read I'm not going to say I've created it because I'm sure I got the idea from somewhere else, my teacher always said the best way to incorporate idea's into your own story is to steal them. Though I would like to think that I've made some of it from scratch.**

**This story will more than likely end up Derek/Ava, but I will throw in some Peter/Ava moments as well, just to mix things up a little.**

**Don't forget to review and enjoy the chapter.**

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**Chapter Five - Exhausted**

_"If I could do anything I'd give you my strength." - Milo_

_._

For once Ava felt like she was the one calling the shots, it took Peter and Derek a little while before they were able to get on either side of her once again. Even then it had only happened because she didn't know her way around the forest that they had called home long ago; it was easier for them to know where they were running. Peter was the same as she remembered him in his stronger form, hairy, large, sharp teeth, and monstrous looking; his glowing red eyes unnerved her slightly even as she burned with power.

Behind her Derek was breathing heavily and growling lowly while she glanced this way and that to see if there was anywhere left for her to run. If she could get away from them long enough to sprint again she'd go to town where they would be less likely to follow her, it'd be crazy if they bit her neck at the grocery store.

Peter was the first to move towards her, swiping with his claws she dodged and made sure to jump away from Derek as he threw a punch at her from behind. They came at her again, this time it didn't seem like she was quite fast enough when one of them grazed her shoulder and drew blood. She snarled at them darkly while Derek seemed to smirk at their new accomplishment. The older wolf didn't let up at all and continued to throw punch after punch at her until her finally caught her leg as she tried to get away.

Not wanting a repeat of the last time he'd grabbed her leg Ava let her foot burn brightly until she heard the hiss of burning skin, her shoes were toast, much to her dismay, but Peter let her go quickly with a growl. As soon as he let go Derek was there to tackle her into the leafy ground and sink his nails into her skin as he breathed heavily against her skin. She thrashed beneath him, letting her body become enflamed as she tried to get him to release her like his uncle had. Yet she was reminded of what he had told her the day before, he didn't care that his skin was burning because in the end it would heal.

He grinned and showed her his sharp teeth before leaning down towards her neck to seal the deal but Ava was waiting for it and smashed her head into his before throwing her burning hand into his face. He peeled away from her in agony as she tried to regain her focus when Peter was back on her again, howling viciously he dove for her. Grabbing her shoulder tightly he used his momentum to throw her across the forest, making her skid until she ran into a tree and gasped for breath momentarily.

Walking towards her slowly Ava gasped shortly as she tried to regain air into her lungs while grasping at the ground beneath her for something she could throw. Peter lurched forward suddenly only to have a burning piece of bark stick to his skin for a few seconds before another one joined it to burn and sink into his flesh. He snarled at Ava as she glared at him darkly from her spot on the ground, holding flaming bundles of forest floor in her hands she didn't hesitate to throw them at her attackers.

If the fight continued on like this she would end up losing, even with all the extra training from her family she would still end up getting marked by this man. It was just too much for one Fox to handle by themselves, eventually the strain on her body from the constant use of fire would wear down on her and she'd collapse. Then it would be as if she was offering herself up to them on a platter, she wouldn't even be able to struggle against them.

Standing up slowly Ava glared at the both of them darkly as they made their way towards her; she'd finally made up her mind and decided on what was the best way to fight them. At first she hadn't wanted to actually hurt them, in the end it was just the desire for power that all wolves had for Foxes that drew them to her. But now that she'd talked to Peter and found out that he was a murderer who was set on revenge she didn't feel a bad about stabbing him in the face, it was just a matter of how mad she was.

Right now she was pissed.

Holding her burning hands up into a ready position she let her fingers shine brightly with flames as if she was their own private campfire that lit up the area. Both of them came at her together, Peter was the first to attack her followed by a kick from Derek; she avoided both of them before thrusting her hand into the older werewolf's face. Letting it sink in for a few moments before he roared in pain and jumped away from her she turned to Derek as he watched his uncle retreat in agony.

She wasted no time and immediately went after him, which made the Beta jump to get away from her hands before fighting against her while keeping distance away from her flaming weapons. He got her in the stomach while she got his shoulder in a terrible heat that made him back off for a bit.

Immediately her eyes darted away from him before she dashed back into the forest and away from them, following her nose and ears towards sound of any sign of people near her. It ended up being a road just outside of the trees, a car passed her as she heaved and tried to calm herself down. Her fiery form began to fade as she breathed heavily from the overexertion on her body, using that much of her strength would leave her vulnerable for at least a day or two.

A howl tore her from her thoughts as she turned to look behind her sharply before she darted back towards the street and ran towards the sounds of more life. It was only when a jeep screeched to a stop that Ava was aware of the familiar figure inside the vehicle as they rolled down the window frantically.

"Get in!" Stiles shouted making Ava all but fly towards his jeep. "Where are they?" He asked as she got into the passenger seat quickly, her hands were shaking badly while she shivered from the loss of heat as her body returned to normal.

"I don't know, I heard Peter howl," she said in a breathy voice. Stiles didn't wait around to see if they were going to come up and say hello, as soon as she was inside he revved the engine and shot off into the night.

Glancing out the back window Ava was aware of the red eyes staring at her off in the distance, making her shudder at the thought of Peter watching her in pure anger at her departure.

"Are you okay?" Stiles asked as she turned back towards the windshield.

That was when Ava took time to look at her appearance after such a fight, the only thing she had had a passing thought of were her shoes dying as she let her feet burn. The rest of her clothing looked about the same, her pants were charred and half gone, blackened holes showing her skin beneath where fire had burned through. Her jacket was ruined from the fighting and the flaming, while her shirt beneath didn't even look to be the same color.

"Yeah," she finally got out with a sigh. He glanced at her every so often, taking in her destroyed clothing and exhausted appearance the first thing he noticed were how her still had a hint of red in them. Flickering between her natural green and the color they had changed into to accommodate her power, he had to admit that it was very cool looking.

"So you told me you could control fire," he said trying to hold back a grin. "But you never said you could turn yourself into a fireball," he was smiling like a little boy again.

"Are you complaining?" She looked at him darkly.

"Only a little, is there anything else you can do with your fire?" He asked excitedly.

"Do we have to do this right now?" She questioned him with an angry frown. "Why does it even matter?" She muttered checking the rearview mirror for red eyes following them.

"Uh," he stopped himself short in order to keep from yelling. "Because that was awesome, something you see in the movies, not real life," he explained giving her a duh look.

"You're too much Stiles," she sighed turning to stare out the window.

Yet she couldn't help the traces of a smile that found its way to her face, despite the teenager being very annoying and not knowing the right time for questions. It was something that lightened the mood, if this had happened at home there would have been endless questions concerning her well being, but Stiles just wanted his curiosity sated.

"You look exhausted," he muttered as she slumped into the seat.

"Just a little," she muttered feeling her head swirl. When she used her fire at home there was always someone waiting for her to return so they could feed her and make sure she didn't collapse. This time she was stuck with some teenager who had followed her regardless of what she'd told him, and he scarcely knew what she would need to be okay.

"What happens if you use too much power?" He questioned watching her hold her head painfully.

It was silent for a few moments while Ava thought of a way to tell him such information without actually voicing the words. Turning her head to look at him she gave him a sort of somber expression before her stomach began to twist and she looked away with a groan.

"I think you already know the answer to that," she said softly. "If I was in a pack of my own I wouldn't feel so awful," she muttered making Stiles look at her quizzically. "They would lend me some of their own power until I recovered, we're supposed to share so that none of us are ever weak enough to be defeated," she explained making him nod his head vigorously.

"In other words, you're the power up that makes everything better," he said making Ava chuckle softly. "So, is there anything I can do to help you not look terrible?" He said turning to go back to the school. As far as Stiles was concerned they still needed to pick up Scott after the game and make sure he got home without too much trouble.

"Some food, before I pass out in your jeep," she shot him a glance to see that he immediately turned away from the school when she mentioned passing out.

"Fast food? Grocery store? What am I looking for?" He questioned peering out into the dark town.

"It doesn't matter," she murmured trying not to think about what would happen if they came after her right away. She wouldn't be able to fight them if she could barely run away from them in her weakened state, how could she fight to keep Peter from claiming her?

"Dan's?" Stiles questioned when she didn't give him a definitive answer.

"Stiles." She said exasperated.

"Okay, geez, sorry," he said raising his eyebrows and looking back towards the road.

=0=0=

That night when Ava got back to where she was staying Mrs. Johnson saw the condition she was in and insisted that she take a day or two off in order to recover. Though Ava explained that all she needed was a good night's rest Holly would have none of it, muttering something about how overworking ruined everything and she didn't want to see someone so young so miserable. Ava had to thank her for that because after using so much power she was actually a lot weaker than she thought her body would be.

She slept in the next day; her exhausted body didn't even want to wake up until about eleven when finally her eyes pried themselves open only to be blinded by the sun. It'd been a while since Ava had a day where she didn't have to do anything, and though it did feel a little strange that she was lounging around in someone else's house. Only lessened by the fact that there was a television and she could drown out her worries by mindlessly watching women fight over one man or whatever sappy soap opera was currently playing.

It was only when a knock sounded at the door that Ava's senses came back into focus as she immediately recognized the scent behind the wood as being Peter's. Her eyes grew hard and emotionless as she pulled herself from the couch and straightened up painfully. It he knew that she was weak right now he wouldn't hesitate to pounce on her form and claim her, and she wouldn't be able to fight back.

Despite her already weak body she let her skin glow faintly as a way of showing him that she could still burn his face off if she really wanted to. With a commanding aura about herself Ava went to answer the door, opening it slowly to see Peter standing peacefully with a thoughtful expression on his face.

"What do you want?" She spat out bitterly. He eyed her already burning body and clenched his jaw disapprovingly, perhaps he'd been hoping for an opportunity to attack her. Instead she let her eyes flash red before her fingertips caught on fire the slightest bit.

"I was hoping we could talk like you wanted to earlier," he said smoothly watching for her reaction. She made no move to look friendly or even consider the option of discussing their options or what he thought his options were.

"But we have nothing to talk about," she said with a fake smile on her face. "I already told you that I'm not interested in being in your pack," she gave him bland look.

"There was a passing thought that swept through my mind," he started speaking making Ava sigh darkly.

She was already at her limit power wise, her legs had begun to tremble at the effort to keep herself standing, and it really was stupid of her to pretend that he should be wary of her. At the moment she was just happy that she hadn't passed out yet, that was the real achievement. If Arthur knew that she was doing this he would have a fit, yet that thought was almost hilariously far from her mind.

"Can you not lend me your power just for a little while?" He asked tilting his head a little. "If you promised to let me use that fire of yours perhaps I would allow you to remove my mark from your body," he explained trying to sound reasonable. Ava gave him a bored look, she already considered such a notion but figured that either the wolf would take her power and use it against her, or not keep his word and leave the mark on her skin. Either way she wasn't going to let the man abuse her strength if he was going to kill people.

"No," she said sternly making him frown. His eyes turned threateningly on her form as her skin flared back at his expression of malice. "I don't trust you," she muttered moving to close the door. He shoved his hand to stop her from cutting off their faces from each other and she glared at him bitterly.

"After seeing my memories, did you not feel sorrow?" His voice sounded choked as he spoke. "Do their screams not haunt your dreams and flood into your mind?" His eyes found hers as the images of his past flooded into her mind. "If it was your family would you not feel the same?" He finally hit a soft spot for her and Ava froze at his words.

If someone killed her family Ava wouldn't hesitate to change forms completely and make sure there was a massacre, why did she feel the need to continue to reject this man? All he really wanted to do was avenge his family whose lives were taken from them much too early, was that so bad? Of course if her family were killed she would most likely want to go with them, or fight for a way to make the others suffer. Though she could see herself blinded by rage, her whole body turning into one big flame as she walked towards those responsible.

Catching herself drifting away from reality Ava held the dead stare that she was giving Peter, she wanted to feel bad for him and yet she kept thinking of what her family would say if she joined a killers pack. Even if it was for a liable reason, she couldn't bring herself to help someone who had the intention of killing.

"Sorry," she tried to sound disinterested. Mustering up enough strength she slammed the door in his face before walking away with a tired sigh. Listening to his heart beat as he stood at the door for a few more moments Ava finally let herself fall into the wall when he walked away from the house.

Breathing harshly she pulled herself back to the couch and cursed Peter for showing up to the house and making her pretend that she was still powerful just to fool him. For now she would surely be stuck on the couch for the rest of the day, surely by tomorrow evening she would be okay to go back to school and still feel powerful.

Sinking into the couch and turning her attention back to the television Ava found that even the minimal attention that was needed for watching the box in front of her was washed away by the recent conversation. His words brought her back to the first few nights that she had dreamt of his past, the screaming and the pain of being burned by a wound that wasn't hers.

The first few nights she'd woken with tears in her eyes and cried for the rest of the night, not able to go back to sleep after hearing the house giving up under the pressure of the flames. Seeing his family members get eaten by the fire as they reached for a freedom they would not receive, how could she not cry at such horror? It was awful, the sight of it, everything that had happened, the darkness of being in a coma from which he could not escape, of course she felt bad for him.

Yet there was Derek, from the same family, with the same pain as his uncle, or perhaps even greater pain knowing that his own family had killed his sister. He was still doing his best to live day to day, not going around killing people who might have been involved with the fire in the first place. Why couldn't Peter be more like his nephew?

Even as she sat on the couch and felt the urge to pass out for the next four hours she found tears escaping her eyes at the memory of her dreams. Leaning back into the couch so that she was lying down Ava brought her hands up to her face and covered her eyes as she wept. If she had met Peter a different way, and he told her about what happened after they knew each other, would she feel the same way?

=0=0=

The next person who came to the door was Stiles, Ava recognized his scent almost immediately as he paced uncertainly in front of the house before finally deciding to let her know that he was here. It had already been about five hours since Peter had dropped by and she'd used a bit too much of her power, she'd taken a nap and recovered enough to where she could walk around just fine. But she didn't open the door to greet the teenager, she knew by now that Stiles would more than likely invite himself into the room and start asking her whatever question he'd thought of.

"What do you want Stiles?" She asked from behind the door.

"You weren't at school today," he said making Ava roll her eyes blandly, did he figure that out all by himself? "I just wanted to make sure you're okay after what happened with Derek and Scott," he said with a sigh. That was when Ava opened the door and gave Stiles a bit of a bewildered look, she had dark circles under her eyes as if she hadn't rested at all.

"Something happened?" She asked in a rush not catching Stiles embarrassment.

"Last night Derek and Scott got attacked and now Derek's gone, and since you weren't at school, we though they got you as well," he said looking away from her.

"Well I'm fine," she muttered rubbing her neck subconsciously. "Peter came to see me earlier and I was wondering why he didn't try to claim me but now I know it's because he's not strong enough by himself," she explained watching Stiles' expression change.

"You still look awful," Stiles said trying not to sound too mean. "I know you don't want to be claimed and all but is it really worth it to hurt yourself this much?" He questioned making Ava look over at him surprised.

"You're too nice Stiles," she teased sticking her tongue out at him. "Give me your phone real quick," she demanded holding out her hand.

"Here," he handed her his phone and watched while she put her number in and then showed it to him.

"If anything happens call me and I'll see what I can do to help," she said giving it back to him and then motioning for him to leave. "Now go bug Scott," she muttered shooing him away from the door before she closed it.

She listened to him leave and sighed heavily, if Derek was gone that meant she had a chance against Peter now, well, not in her current condition but as soon as she healed up. But where was Derek? Not dead she hoped, she didn't like the guy because he was helping his uncle but that was no reason to wish death upon him. Considering there would only be a handful of people that could have attacked him and known where he would be Ava had to guess that it was the Argent family. They were the only ones that knew about werewolves in this town, well besides Stiles anyway.

The only reason Ava could think of for capturing Derek would be to use him against Peter, which meant that they would try to get the information out of him on who it was. Shivering at the thought Ava knew exactly how they would do it, torture.

Of course the man would heal, but the pain was still there, she'd never seen someone getting tortured before but heard that hunters sometimes broke their code in order to get back at someone who had wronged them. Is that what was happening now? Even though it was Derek's family that had been burned alive and not the Argent's, why was he taken?

For the rest of the day Ava's mind was a mess as she tried to figure everything out with much trouble, only when Mrs. Johnson got home did she remember that she was supposed to be resting and trying to recover. The older woman looked at her quizzically before stating that she probably wouldn't be ready to go back to school the next day either, and asked Ava if she had a history of a weak body.

"Sometimes," she said with a soft laugh.

"Maybe you should go home and rest, your family should know how to take care of you," she muttered making Ava's eyes widen. She couldn't go home now.

"No, I'll be fine by tomorrow," she insisted making the nurse smile. The nurse gave her a wary expression that made Ava smile awkwardly, she couldn't simply tell the woman that because she was a mythical creature she healed faster than a human would. "I promise, she grinned sheepishly.

"Okay, but as punishment for being absent you have to chaperon the dance this Friday," she smirked wickedly. Ava stared at her uneasily, for some reason the older woman seemed to enjoy making the younger adult sweat at the thought of watching a bunch of teenagers for a whole night.

"Does that mean I have to wear a dress?" She muttered giving Holly a hard stare.

"Of course," she said as if it was an obvious question. Groaning Ava gave the woman a dull look, knowing that there was no way to get out of this one she finally sighed and sat down on the couch defeated.

"Do you know any stores that I can go to?" She murmured defeated.

"I'll write them down and you can go tomorrow during school," she said with a mischievous smile. Ava thanked her before going to her temporary room, flopping down on the bed lazily she stared up at the ceiling for a moment. Wondering about what had happened that day and what would happen in the next few days, in the end it boiled down to what Scott would be doing. By herself she was capable of fighting Derek and Peter for a certain amount of time, and now with Derek out of the picture they would be more than capable of beating the Alpha.

Though it was still early to be going to bed Ava needed to rest and regain her strength, so instead of trying to kill time watching some dumb television show with Holly she stuffed her head into the pillow and closed her eyes. The unfamiliar scent of Mrs. Johnson's house was the last thing she remembered before drifting off into a silent slumber.

The next day the older woman did not bother to wake her and left the names of the stores where she could go dress shopping on the counter. Ava found them a couple hours later when she finally rolled out of bed and sighed at the refreshed feeling of rejuvenation, sometimes at home she'd complain about the healing powers of wolves. The fact that they healed almost instantly just wasn't fair when it took her a day or two to recover from too much power usage. At least now she could walk and snap into fire mode without passing out if needed be, though she doubted Peter would come after her without Derek.

Dressing warmly Ava walked outside and stared at the driveway for a few moments before sighing in realization, she didn't have a car, how did Holly expect her to get to the stores? It's not like she was familiar with the street names either, the older woman was off her rocker if she though Ava was going to wander around until she found the right street.

Her pocket was warm when she reached into it to grab her phone, typing the stores name into the search box and picking the right town she finally got a map of where she was going to be going. The first store was only about five miles away from where she currently was, not too bad of a walk even in the cold, she could make it without too much complaining. Plus there was no one to complain to so it wouldn't matter in the slightest if she started.

Suddenly a car pulled up next to her as she started walking on the sidewalk and rolled down the window, Peter smiled at her kindly from inside the vehicle as he slowed to a stop. She eyed him for a second before continuing on her way down the concrete, ignoring him successfully until she heard him chuckle and catch up with her.

"Need a ride?" His voice was silky when he spoke. She didn't look back at him again simply continued on her way, not speaking to him nor halting to make eye contact, which made him laugh even more, much to her anger. "Ava, you don't have to walk," he said checking the road to make sure he wouldn't run over anything.

"I don't need a ride from a wolf," she finally replied sharply. Getting to the end of the sidewalk she checked both ways before crossing the street while Peter followed her, whatever he was trying to do it wasn't going to work.

"So you're just going to walk?" He asked hoping she would turn to look at him. That was when she finally stopped and looked him in the eyes, hers were hard and cold as they held his own. For some reason this man though that if he was suddenly nice to her she would just give in and immediately want to join his pack.

"Yes," she spat at him while turning back towards the street in front of her.

"Ava-," he started to say something but she cut him off.

"Whatever you're trying to do it won't work, you're not strong enough to claim me without Derek and I won't fall into your arms like a woman in heat," she said shortly making Peter smirk at her words. "So either leave me alone, or give me your blood so I never have to see you again," her shoes made a dull thump on the pavement as it was quiet for a few moments.

"Playing hard to get only makes me want to chase," he grinned at her. She threw him a dark glare before picking up her pace a little, he followed her regardless, watching the way her hair fluttered in the breeze. The crispness of her green eyes was so different from the red blaze of her power it intrigued him, why did this Fox have to be so alluring?

"Except that I'm not playing," she said turning a corner. "Peter, I will make sure that I burn you so much you'll have to sit in the darkness of a coma for another five years, do you want that?" She threatened making him raise his eyebrows mockingly.

"You won't have to walk," he said disregarding her direct caution.

"No," she muttered shrugging away his offer.

"Suit yourself," he growled before rolling up the window and driving off. Ava sighed, relieved that the man had finally left her alone, his friendly facade made her sick after everything he had tried to do to her. They weren't friends, and nothing he could do right now would be able to change that.

When she finally got to the first store Ava was more or less a walking harbor of hatred and self disdain, she'd spent the whole walk over to the blasted store thinking about how she could have sit in the back seat of Peter's car and been out of his reach. While the other half of her praised her for ignoring the man whose smiles made her want to forget he was a werewolf to begin with. To say the least her mind was a mess of what she would have done if he wasn't an Alpha and trying to bite her in the neck while at the same time wishing that Holly had had an extra car to lend her for a day.

Grabbing a few dresses without care to what color they were Ava went into the dressing rooms and shimmied out of her pants and jacket before pulling the thing over her body. It was a soft shade of pink that made Ava frown, she'd never been one of those girls who liked the color pink, especially not on her. The next dress was a dull grey that looked like something Holly would wear if she was going to a meeting, not something that would fit in a high school dance. The last dress she'd grabbed didn't look too awful, it was a deep blue color that looked good against her red hair when she held it up to the mirror.

The only thing she didn't like about it was the tight fit on her body, if something happened that night it would be next to impossible for her to move around and fight to keep someone off. She doubted she would even be able to run in it let alone grow a tail if it came down to that. Sighing at the small mirror in her stall she pulled at her hair to make sure it was straight and free of any knots before pulling open the door and walking down the full length mirror a few feet away. Taking off her socks, that she still had on for whatever reason she glanced at her figure in the mirror before catching a familiar face behind her.

"You must be really bored if you're following me around," she growled as Peter walked closer to her. He gave her a quick smile before blocking her escape a she tried to get back to her dressing room. Ava hadn't really noticed upon her arrival but the store was almost empty of customers at the moment, which is why it had been easy for Peter to sneak into the woman's dressing room.

"Just curious," he said looking over her form in the dress. "Blue really isn't your color," he noted leaning against a wall and looking at her further.

"Well I didn't ask your opinion," she spat out bitterly before shoving past him to get back to her clothing. He chuckled at her lowly as she closed the door to the stall and hoped that he wouldn't lean against it and hang around, of course he did, to her great dismay.

"If you had asked me I would have recommended green," he stated in a silky voice. Ava was sure that before the fire he was quite the catch, luring girls back to his place with the softest of compliments on his tongue as they followed his charm.

"Too bad I didn't find one I liked," she muttered slipping the dress off her form.

"I did," he commented before green fabric was hung over the side of the door. "Go ahead, I think it's your size," he urged through the door. Ava glared at the dress before finally tugging it down and holding it up to her body in the mirror. The dress was shorter than the pink one had been, going down to about her knees, or perhaps just above them, she'd have to try it on to know. The top seemed more like a tank top, with a think layer of green fabric above it so one could see the smallest hint of skin beneath, and maybe the whisper of a collar bone. She would admit that it was a nice find if it had been picked out by someone else.

"If I try this on will you go away?" She grumbled back at him. He chuckled at her in response, Ava could imagine the sides of his mouth crinkling up as he laughed, the way his eyes would seem to be mocking her. Stopping herself short Ava cursed herself for even thinking that way, when had she had the time to admire his appearance?

"Maybe," his answer was short.

Slipping into the dress quickly Ava found that it fit her almost perfectly, though she thought it a little creepy that he'd picked the exact fit for her. It hugged her body only slightly around her stomach where the dress seemed to cinch a little to have the appearance of a belt of sorts. It looked nice without being too showy or too extravagant like she knew most of the teenagers would strive for Friday night.

"Are you going to show me?" He asked in a breathy voice. Her first response was to say no, but at the same time she knew that if Peter was going to leave at all she would have to suck it up and walk out of the stall in order for him to even consider that she had done what he wanted.

Opening the door to walk back to the full mirrors Ava ignored the man as he stared at her, instead busying herself with straightening out any crinkles that might have appeared in the dress. It was weird knowing that there was a man behind her, at such an intimate distance that she'd scarcely let anyone be at before, she tried not to look at him.

Peter felt his mouth water when Ava opened the door to her small dressing stall and walked out wearing the dress that he'd selected for her, the color matched her eyes almost exactly and brought them out against her pale skin. She ignored him as he gazed at her, but still he could tell that his eyes made her uncomfortable when they were already so close to each other. Again there was the urge to reach out and claim her, bite down on her soft neck and ravage her, to hear her voice in his ear and feel the power flood through his veins, he wanted her. But he kept himself back, she could very easily burn him to death with the current level of control that she had over her strength.

"See," he said gently walking towards her slowly. She tensed when he stopped behind her and reached up to move her hair over to one shoulder, she shivered when he touched her skin and leaned away from him. "Doesn't this one look better?"

**.**

_"I know you will always need it." Milo_

* * *

**AN: Wrote the rest of this at school after making up a dumb test I missed because of surgery, no, I didn't want to edit it. I already did too much reading today, the Prince by Machiavelli for one of my classes, my brain...**

**Anyway, what do you think? Peter's trying to get all buddy buddy with Ava even though she wants nothing to do with him, I'm trying to sate my Peter fans if only just a little bit! Please forgive me Derek peoples your time will come soon.**

**Don't forget to review, and wish me luck on my finals tomorrow, the only one I'm really worried about is Western Civilization, the teacher scares me a little.. ._.**

**Thanks for reading.**


	6. Vodka

**AN: I passed all my classes and finished watching Teen Wolf, super excited for next season and I kind of know how to work Ava in if I intend to keep the story as I'm planing right now. I read through the beginning part of this and that's about it, so again, sorry for mistakes and junk.**

**Thanks for the reviews all three of you! Currently it's that time of the month and I'm finding myself crying at everything, so if half of this sounds a little detached it's because I'm emotional right now and didn't want that in the story. No judging me! I'll bite you face off!**

**But not really, sorry. Don't forget reviews I want at least four this time, one more than last time. You guys can manage that right?**

* * *

_"What is it like for memories to be dreamed? To be remembered?" -Milo_

**Chapter Six - Vodka**

**.**

After he moved her hair over to one shoulder one of his hands lingered over the smooth skin on her neck, he could almost feel her heart beating beneath her skin. Glancing down at her bare legs Peter caught sight of the mark he's left on her ankle from night and nights ago, he felt a strange urge to drag his teeth across it. Almost as if he should renew the mark just to make sure that everyone else knew she was already his.

"It's strange how you know what size I am," she said disdainfully. He chuckled softly at her words and let his fingertips crush against her skin the smallest bit, which made her tremble and shift away from him. She may be stronger than he was but it didn't mean that she wasn't still wary of what he was doing to her, the way he was touching her skin so delicately. It was if she was one of his possessions that were made of glass.

"I even picked out some shoes," he commented making her turn to him blandly.

"If you don't leave after I try them on I'm going to scream and get security to take you out, got it?" Ava almost smiled at the last part. Peter simply smiled in return making her frown at him; didn't the man ever lose his mocking grin?

"Sit down, and I'll put them on for you," she said kindly. Ava glared at him venomously and made to move away from him before he grabbed her shoulder and whispered softly into her ear. "And then I'll drive you home so you don't have to walk," his voice was soft. She blushed darkly at the feeling of his breath against her neck, casting her eyes away from his she moved to sit down on a small bench next to the mirrors.

"I already have a ride," she lied but kept her heartbeat steady. It was a trick she had learned after many years of living with werewolves that could hear right away when she fibbed about anything.

"I know you're lying," he said grabbing a pair of black heels and kneeling down in front of her. The shoes were simple yet elegant when paired with her current green dress; the heels weren't too high or too short, perfect for someone who hated them. "Even if you have learned how to control that drum in your chest," he smirked up at her, only receiving a glare in return.

Glancing around the dressing room Ava searched for any sort of clock to see what time it was, depending on whether or not it was after three Stiles would be able to pick her up. Save there were no clocks to read and her phone was trapped inside the pocket of her jeans in her dressing stall. With Peter already grabbing her foot and slipping one of the heels onto it she couldn't excuse herself to grab the device.

When he grabbed her marked foot Peter ran his fingers over it for a few seconds while Ava quivered in his grip and wondered what she should do in such a situation. In order for him to complete the mark he had to bite her neck, and he was too far away to do that at the moment so she was at least a little relaxed. But what was he doing with her ankle? The rough feeling of his hands on her leg made her quake in anticipation of what would happen next, mostly because she didn't know.

"Go ahead and scream," he whispered softly before digging his claws into her ankle and yanking it towards his fangs. Holding down her complaints she tried to pull her leg away from him frantically all the while growling threateningly at him as he drew his mark closer to his face. It would be easy to ignite her whole body to get away from him or scream but at the same time she didn't want to cause a scene. If she turned into a fireball the dress would be ruined and she didn't want to buy a dress that was already destroyed, and if she made a commotion it would just be annoying. She could deal with Peter, find a solution to what was happening.

"Let go of me," she tried to stay calm.

Peter couldn't control himself, not when his marked was so close to him, he could hear everything, the blood rushing through her veins and the beat of her frightened heart as he continued to surprise her. The warmth of the fire beneath her skin and in her blood as he pierced her with his claws, causing small vein like rivers to flows down her ankle and onto his hands, she was twitching in his grip as she pushed to get away from him. But this only made him smile, his Fox was trying to refuse him when all he wanted to do was renew his mark, it was calling to him, even without its completion.

When she first became an adult, her father claimed nineteen was the opportune age; he'd given her the talk. Not the one about sex and only giving it to the person she loved, no, he spoke to her about getting marked and what it meant for the wolf that gave it to her. It was an extremely uncomfortable conversation that involved her father talking about when he and her mother liked to be alone so they could renew the mark.

He explained to her that when a wolf claimed a Fox there was a sense of ownership over the person, though she didn't like the sound or idea of being owned he said that it wasn't so bad. As a wolf that'd marked a Fox there was always a need to renew the claim, as a way to make sure that everyone around them knew who the Fox belonged to. Because sometimes a Fox's pack might die, or they would run away from their wolf, which would give another pack the opportunity to claim it. Just like a dog that has to repeatedly urinate on a tree to mark its territory a wolf has the urge to mark its Fox.

Yanking her body closer to his Peter ran one of his hands up to her knee and back down before bringing her ankle up to his mouth. He then proceeded to lick and nip at the sensitive skin on her ankle, tracing his mark lightly with his fangs as Ava tried to jerk away from him. It was an odd feeling that sent heat through her form, flaring as if she had a fever she cursed her body for reacting to the reclaim.

Snarling bitterly she set her leg on fire quickly, he'd yet to put the shoe on her foot so she didn't have to worry about burning it to bits. It startled him enough to pull away for a moment before Peter realized that the fire wasn't nearly as hot as it had been recently, in fact it felt like he wasn't getting burned at all. Smirking against her skin Peter almost wanted to laugh when he realized that he must be getting used to her fire, perhaps even starting to be able to use her powers against her. She froze for a moment realizing that the fire seemed to have no effect of him, in fact it seemed that he was getting used to being around the fire, though he didn't seem to realize it much.

When he didn't let go Ava let her own claws sharpen before she laid them on the back of his neck threateningly, he stiffened almost immediately and looked up at her darkly. His eyes were full of a deep lust and need that made Ava shudder, if she hadn't stopped him what would've happened?

"Let go," her voice was cold and short as she glared at him.

Holding her eyes the whole time Peter wiped her blood onto his hand before letting her leg fall away from his mouth, the crimson stain on his hand was instead brought to his lips. He made sure that she was still watching him as he licked her blood off his knuckles and almost reveled at the taste, making Ava squirm uncomfortably. Someday when someone finally marked her would she actually enjoy this?

Giving Ava a sly expression Peter got to his feet and watched as the small punctures on her ankle closed slowly as she healed, her eyes were trained on his form as she glared at him venomously. His eyes didn't hide the previous feeling of lust that entered his form and continued to remain even as he rose to looked down at Ava from her seat. In return her own optics flashed orange as her fiery power shifted through her skin and flared up to match her temper at what had just taken place.

"See you Friday," he said smiling at her softly. He then proceeded to walk away, but not before making sure that she saw him lick his lips clean of any red residue from her ankle, she stared at him defensively until he was out of sight. Sighing heavily she changed back into her regular clothing and put all the dresses away, but not before glancing at the green one once more, it had looked nice on her body, but after what Peter had said she almost shivered at the prospect of wearing it.

At the end of the day she didn't end up buying any dresses, after making it to the second store on foot she gave up when she found out that Stiles would still be at school for at least a couple more hours. By the time she got back to Holly's house the older woman was pulling up in the driveway and smiling at her cheerfully, looking at one of the bags she had.

"What color is it?" She asked kindly. Ava gave her an ashamed expression before opening the bag and showing her that inside the bag was a jacket that she had thought was warm, not a dress at all. "That isn't even a dress," she muttered stating the obvious.

"I couldn't find anything and this was soft," she said walking with the woman up to the front door slowly.

"Maybe I have an old dress you can use," she murmured making Ava's eyebrows raise in surprise. If the woman had anything to offer Ava had a feeling it wouldn't be very flattering, not that Ava was trying to be mean, but Holly really didn't have her style.

"That's okay," she insisted following the woman to the front door to see her holding up a box with a flower on it.

"Seems like you've gathered some attention," she chuckled handing Ava the box. Holly opened the door and started mumbling something about young love and how she wished boys were still chasing after her like they used to in the old days. Ava tried to ignore her as she went to her room and dropped her bag on the bed, of course the gift was from Peter, who else would have the audacity to give her something when her stay here had been so short?

Pulling off the top of the box her eyes thinned when she saw the same green fabric from earlier, it even included the same shoes that Peter had slipped onto one of her feet before attacking the other one, there was a simple note on top of the dress that read.

_It's not like you have anything else to wear._

She cursed him silently for being correct, did this mean that he had followed her around all day despite what had happened at the first store? She'd have to get in touch with Scott so they could get this over with, now that Derek was missing it should be easy to overpower him especially with all the power that Ava could muster. Though there was the knew discovery of Peter being able to resist her fire like he had done earlier, it worried her slightly. Her family had always been able to control her outbursts of fire because her father had trained them on how to use the power to counterbalance the user.

If this was true and Peter had learned how to resist her fire completely it would mean that she'd lost her edge and he wouldn't be fearful of what she could od to him anymore. There was nothing stopping him from walking through the front door of Holly's house and pinning her to the bed to claim her.

=0=0=

The next day at school Ava fidgeted around nervously until Stiles finally walked into the room wearing a pitiful looking pained face, she'd have to teach the kid how to fake sickness one of these days. He caught eyes with her before looking at the older nurse hoping that she'd leave the room so they could talk without having to whisper to each other.

"I actually haven't seen you for a couple days Mr. Stilinksi," Holly commented from her desk before standing up and grabbing her empty mug of coffee. "Be right back dear," she smiled at Ava who nodded simply in return.

"Peter's targeting Scott's mom and Allison," he burst out without waiting for Ava to say anything first. "Scott and I were thinking that you and him could team up and go after Peter, then you can get rid of your mark and all that good stuff," he said sitting down in a chair across from her.

"When?" She finally spoke feeling that her next comment would be very urgent news.

"Sometime this weekend, after the dance, Scott wants to go so he can dance with Allison," he muttered glancing around to make sure no one was listening.

"No," she said shortly making Stiles turn back to her sharply. "We have to do it soon or else I won't be of any help to you," she breathed watching as Stiles gave her a perplexed reaction.

"Is something wrong with you?" He questioned looking up and down her form to check for injuries. "Did something happen? Is it another one of your Fox things?" His voice turned dull at the mention of 'fox things.'

"I told you, remember," it was Ava's turn to be annoyed with the teenager. "When a Fox is claimed the power they hold is shared among the rest of the wolves, I can use their strength they can use my fire," she explained watching his eyes lighten in understanding. "Even if the mark isn't complete Peter-," he cut her off, already the answer was bright in his mind.

"Is starting to be able to control fire," he finished for her.

"Yes," her voice was grim. "He doesn't know exactly what to do with it yet, he resisted my fire by accident I think. So if we attack him soon he won't have enough time to learn how to control it, we can still beat him," she assured him when he started to frown.

"We don't know where he's going to be though," he commented making Ava growl in agreement. They had no idea where the Alpha was staying, he seemed to just appear out of nowhere and wreck havoc on people he wanted to.

"But he needs me and Scott, so tonight we'll go to the dance and when he shows up we can go after him," she stated standing and walking over to the desk. "If we can get him alone in the woods, then we should be powerful enough to take him down," she added imagining herself and Scott in the forest facing off against a flaming Alpha. First he would set Scott on fire before stealing all of her strength away until she sunk into the forest floor, then he would let his teeth sink into her neck.

"Does that mean you're going to the dance?" Stiles wondered aloud before catching himself. He gave Ava a curious expression that she returned with a dull stare, she wasn't excited to be stuck in a gym with a bunch of teenagers all night long.

"Yes," she muttered bitterly. Jotting down Stiles' name with a purple pen Ava motioned for him to go over to one of the beds to rest, Scott didn't have first period with Stiles so there was no reason for him to return so soon. He looked about ready to cry when she said that he could stay and sleep for a little while, let his English teacher cool off for a little bit.

"You know it's really ironic that his whole family died in a fire and now he might be able to control the stuff," Stiles murmured scratching his chin anxiously. He sat down on one of the beds and gave her an almost mocking sort of stare, it wasn't her fault that she had such an unfortunate power and was paired up with people who lost people to flames.

"I've thought the same thing many times myself," she murmured letting a melancholy look pass into her eyes. "All the nights I spent breathing harshly from another dream in darkness with screams blaring through my ears, not being able to escape or wake up. Why of all Foxes did they have to meet a fire one? I'm sure if they weren't werewolves they'd hate me," her voice was soft as she spoke of it.

Stiles didn't know how to react to her, the way her forest green eyes began to well up with tears as she thought of all the dreams she and Peter had unknowingly shared. The only reason anyone ever seemed to want her was because she was a Fox, in the werewolf world power always reigned supreme, so why wouldn't they want her?

"So for the dance," Ava caught the boys attention. "Who are you going with?"

Stiles merely smiled at Ava with a triumphantly proud expression on his face, Ava didn't even need him to answer to know who it was he was taking.

=0=0=

It was different than Ava remembered her dances being when she was in high school, of course she had had her brothers and sisters to hang out with when no one wanted to ask her. Instead of getting involved with a few of the other teachers she sat on the bleachers and watched to make sure none of the kids were trying to get away with drinking or other naughty things.

Wearing the green dress that Peter had gotten for her Ava had almost thrown the thing away but Holly wouldn't let her and insisted she wear it because it matched her eyes. So she wore it, smiling nicely whenever someone said that she looked nice before turning around and snarling at such a compliment. The fact that Peter had picked it out for her and then tried to reclaim her right in the dressing room was more than one reason for her to hate him, in a way this was another notion of claiming her as his. It was a dress that he'd picked out for her, the wolf for the fox, she might as well have been sporting his mark on her neck already.

Watching a few girls walk into the hallway towards the bathroom Ava followed listening to what they were talking about, some boy that one oft he girls had gone to the dance with apparently. She kept going on and on about how she wanted to give it to him after the dance but would only be able to if she was drunk. One of the other girls pulled a bottle out of her purse and that was when Ava popped up around the corner and caught eyes with one of the girls who gasped loudly.

"Give me the bottle," she said holding out her hand.

"It's just water," the teenager replied bitterly. Ava could hear her heartbeat speed up as she tried to conceal her lie, she could smell the alcohol that they'd tried to hide in a plastic water bottle, most likely vodka.

"Oh, can I have some?" She asked feigning ignorance.

"Uhm, you can't I'm sick," she muttered trying to conceal her frantic expression.

"A cold, why don't we go to the nurses office and I can see how to help," she explained motioning towards the dark hallway behind them. The girl looked at her friends anxiously but they offered her no help in return, if anything it looked like they wanted to run and leave her there. "We can see if your parents want to pick you up," she explained turning to walk down the hall.

"No," she said trying to stuff the bottle back into her purse.

"Just give me the vodka," Ava murmured blandly making the girl jump. She hesitated and made Ava want to growl and scare her, just leave the vodka and go already. "Or I can tell the coach, I'm sure he's ready to yell," she looked back to the gym.

"Take it," she spat out before shepherding her friends back into the dance venomously. Ava watched them blend back into the crowd before going into the bathroom and opening the bottle to dump into the sink, now that the scent wasn't being concealed the stench of alcohol hit her full force and she gagged. She'd never been one to drink, when her father drank he tended to turn into a fireball and walk down the street in the middle of the night, it was best if Foxes didn't even try to lose control, bad things happened.

"Look at you, new girl got alcohol," a voice said behind her. She jumped and turned to see an older lady that Holly had introduced as Mrs. Klein, the art teacher. She was holding a smaller water bottle that she had most likely confiscated from another student. "Seems like you know what you're doing already," she laughed before going to dump out the contents of her bottle as well.

"I know how to deal with teenagers," Ava muttered capping the bottle and throwing it into the trash. "Younger siblings," she added trying to give the lady some sort of explanation.

"When I went to Prom, oh, how long ago was it?" The teacher wondered looking up at the ceiling while she capped her own bottle. "Who knows, too old," she said blandly making Ava grin at her light way of speaking. "Anyway, my friend brought whiskey and dumped it into the punch, everyone was drunk, even the teachers that were supposed to be watching us," she laughed at the memory, her eyes clouding over as the fondness left her eyes.

"Did you get drunk?" Ava questioned trying to imagine the older woman stumbling around.

"Oh, I was smashed, tripped down the stairs," she chuckled. "My date had to drive me home, he didn't drink the punch because he said coffee was the only drink he needed. That was a good dance," she nodded walking over to Ava slowly. Placing a comforting hand on the girls shoulder she squeezed it gently giving her a smile.

In that moment Ava closed her eyes for a moment and saw the bright lights flash before a foreign gym appeared in front of her and a bunch of lazy teenagers walked around in old dresses. Some of them were flailing their arms around on the dance floor as they did their best to appear seductive to the other, their feeble dunk minds unable to make sense of the pounding in their heads. Turning her eyes backwards Ava saw a woman in a red dress being help up by a frantic looking boy who was glancing around at everyone as they stumbled around.

As soon as the art teacher let her go the memory vanished and Ava was left with a hollow feeling of happiness, since the past had been so vividly clear in the older women's mind Ava had been able to jump into it.

"Let's see who can find a condom first," the woman laughed before opening the door to go back into the gym. How come none of her high school teachers had ever been that cool? Of course as a high school punk Ava had never cared about her teachers, all that mattered to her in those four years was what had happened in her family as she discovered her powers for the first time.

Hearing something at the end of the hallway Ava caught the scent of Scott and Allison walking out of the school and towards the buses, she walked behind them slowly, giving them time to do a few things before she carted them back into the gym. It was only when she heard engines rev that her feet carried her faster down the hallway until she pushed open the doors to see that Allison had now found out about Scott's secret. She watched him run off into the forest before going after him quickly, taking off her more than annoying high heels and sprinting after the boy, hearing his scream of agony. If anything she was sure that he had wanted to tell Allison himself when the time was right, perhaps he had been just about to tell her, but it had been ruined, and now he was frustrated and angry.

She stopped a little ways away from him and made sure that he knew she was there, his heaving form on the forest floor made her heart wrench, once she had had a friend in seventh grade. It was one of her first human friends that liked her despite her weird Fox quirks, but when something had happened to her sister Ava shifted forms without thinking and her friend saw. She screamed and ran away from her, eventually they had to take her memories away altogether, it was like Ava had never even existed in her eyes, she hated middle school.

"Scott," she whispered his name soothingly. His head jerked around to glare at her only to soften when he saw the expression on her face, though his eyes hardened as his mind worked to form a plan.

"Follow me," he snarled bolting off into the forest. "We're going to find Derek," he said shifting into his other form and urging Ava to do the same. Her ears perked up from her hair as her tail peeked out from under her dress, with her shoes gone it was far easier to run than it had been in the hallway. "Then we'll beat Peter," he stated.

When they pulled the door open to where Derek was Ava felt his eyes on her almost immediately before they shifted to Scott who was glaring at Derek with determination written into his face. She felt bad for the wolf in front of them, it was evident that he had been tortured, though there were no wounds on his body, not even a bruise to trace out the shape of knuckles the way he seemed so weak in front of them.

"Break one of his arms free," Scott whispered just loud enough for Ava to hear. She wanted to laugh at the boy slightly, he sounded so dark and demanding it would be hard to believe he was so young if she didn't know him, commanding a wolf to do his bidding, he'd make a good leader some day.

Not replying to him but walking forward Ava let her hand glow, he'd told her everything on the way over after hearing Derek's howl, what had happened after she'd left, what he'd figured out, and why Derek would agree to help them after all. The wolf in front of her let his eyes flash blue weakly before he sucked in a breath, despite his body condition and the wear it had taken on his form he could still feel the pull that came with a Foxes scent near him. She was so close to him right now.

Ava broke his chain with little effort, her glowing hand melting the metal off him easily she glanced back at Scott who nodded at her before Derek reached out and latched onto her shoulder almost painfully. She growled low in her throat and felt Scott stiffen, what did Derek want with Ava? The way the older wolf was looking at her Scott could swear that he saw something like lust pass through his eyes before they shifted towards the ceiling of the small room about them.

"Someone's coming," he muttered straining his ears towards the house above him. Ava focused on the noise of footsteps nearing them and the sound of a heartbeat coming down to them, her eyes turning back towards Scott with a nod before they back out of the room. Derek reluctantly let go of the Fox as she forced herself away from his grip on her shoulder, her eyes catching his for a moment, the door closed before they could look away from each other.

They listened for the man to come down the stairs and walk into Derek's room, he mentioned something about how he would have to change to a bat because his knuckles were starting to bruise and it made Ava growl lowly. Even if she wasn't part of her pack it still made her angry that they had taken him when he had done nothing wrong. Just because he was related to someone who was causing all the trouble, why did he have to be the one that suffered?

Scott walked back into the room first followed by Ava as she cast her eyes towards the ground, when he began to argue with Scott about needing to get free Ava turned up to him sharply, glaring at him fully her eyes flashed orange for a second.

"Listen to him," she spat out making him freeze. Scott explained how Peter had lured Laura back to Beacon hills in order for him to be able to kill her, it hadn't been an accident at all, Derek was quiet making Scott more than a little frustrated before the wolf responded. Ripping his other hand off the wall Scott looked at him a little surprised but Ava only smiled at him, he'd finally found his anger.

"Let's go," Derek muttered glancing at Ava quickly.

"Wait, I can help you," she said letting her claws sharpen as she looked at the two of them. If this was going to work out for them Derek and Scott would have to be able to use fire as well, else Peter would more than likely be able to defeat them without even trying. She had to assume that the Alpha knew how to control her fire, if she hoped instead that he hadn't learned only to find out that they couldn't beat him it wouldn't be good. She had to do this.

"Weren't you going to help anyway?" Scott questioned shaking his head at her. Ava growled lowly at him, she hadn't expected the wolves to know what she meant by those words.

"Yes," she hissed before grabbing his wrist and sinking her teeth into it. Scott groaned in pain and jerked his arm away from her in a fit of rage as Derek watched with burning eyes, the young wolf growled as his skin began to burn.

"What did you do?" He snarled watching a glowing heat sink into his skin before moving further across his body.

"I'm sharing my power,'" she explained turning to Derek who merely looked down at her defiantly. "We have to assume that Peter can control my fire, so in order to fight him, you have to be able to use it too," she said glancing back at Scott. His yellow eyes flared to life, changing to orange as his hands began to glow faintly.

"It's hot," he gasped out trying to claw at where she had bitten him. Derek eyed Scott with careful eyes, turning back to Ava as she stared up at him stubbornly, holding out her clawed hand for his wrist she showed him her sharpened fangs.

"Focus on the heat," she spoke to Scott without looking at him. "Push it away as if it was a wave of nausea, control it," she whispered listening as Scott's heartbeat began to slow back down.

"I don't need your help," Derek hissed making Ava let a low rumble sound in her throat.

"Do you want him to burn you? Do you want to live through the fire that you missed?" Her voice said calmly. He didn't speak again but merely held out his wrist for her to take, her fingers found it softly before she brought it to her lips. Immediately there was a burn that passed from her fangs in his skin into his body, a scorching fire that blasted through his veins as his eyes flashed orange just as Scott's had.

Following the instructions that Ava had given the younger wolf Derek was able to control the new power within him easily, testing out this new fire within him he urged his hand to become inflamed. Ava watched him with a small smile on her lips as he stared at his slowly burning hand, the wonder in his eyes was enough to make him growl anxiously. This was her power, the Foxes power that every pack craved to possess.

"I can't smell anything," Scott complained making her sigh at his whining.

"You body isn't used to the fire yet, it dulls your senses for a little while," she explained making him nod in understanding.

"Now we can go," Scott said turning towards the door quickly. Derek put his hand out and walked after the boy, glancing back at Ava for a moment to see her glaring at the both of them slightly.

She'd only shared her power once, and that had only been with one other person, this time it'd been two, she'd have to work extra hard to make sure they didn't take all her power and drain her before the fight even started. Even as they walked away from her Ava could feel the strain on her body, this was why she needed a pack, if there was shared power the strain on her body wouldn't even exist. She walked after the boys, following them down the tunnels and into the forest before something grabbed her around the waist and knocked all the air out of her lungs. The two wolves in front of her didn't even notice her absence their minds too focused on the new feeling of burning power within them.

Ava was aware of being taken through the trees until the person ran into the old Hale house and dropped her on the floor, she sputtered and tried to form words with her lips, taking in shallow breaths the figure in front of her began to clear in front of her eyes. He smiled down at her eerily, his fangs poking out through his lips as he took in her scent, breathing deeply he closed his eyes before opening them again, they were red.

It was Peter.

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_"Sometimes it's hard to wake up." -Milo_

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**AN: And that was Chapter six, sorry if it felt like I was rushing, I wanted to hurry up and get past season one and start developing relationships.  
Anyway, what did you think? I will continue to add stuff on to the Fox lore randomly whenever I see fit as long as it relates to the story.  
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**Tell me what you think, don't forget reviews, took me longer to update, didn't feel an urge, reviews give me lots of urges. O_O**

**Thanks for reading.**


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